More than a dozen Republican-led states are urging Congress to ban abortion shield laws, pieces of legislation passed in states where abortion is legal that protect abortion providers from liability for violating anti-abortion laws in other states.
A total of 15 GOP attorneys general signed and sent a letter to congressional leadership this week requesting that federal action be taken to preempt abortion shield laws, arguing that they interfere with states’ ability to enforce criminal laws.
The attorneys general also argue in their letter that the laws conflict with the constitution’s “full faith and credit clause” as well as its extradition clause.
“Congress should consider stepping in to remedy this problem,” their letter reads. “Instead of allowing pro-abortion States to disrespect the decisions of other States regarding abortion and trample the Constitution, Congress should assess whether it should tackle this issue head on with legislation that preempts state shield laws.”
Signees include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R), who both have taken legal action against a New York doctor for allegedly prescribing and mailing abortion pills to women in their respective states.
Texas and Louisiana have almost entirely banned abortion with some exceptions to save the life of the pregnant person or prevent “permanent impairment” of a life-sustaining organ.
Paxton sued the doctor—Margaret Carpenter—in December for allegedly sending abortion pills to a 20-year-old Texan woman last year. A Texas judge ordered Carpenter to pay more than $100,000 in penalties for violating Texas’s abortion law but neither she nor her attorney appeared at the court hearing or responded to Paxton’s lawsuit.
A grand jury in Louisiana indicted Carpenter for allegedly mailing abortion pills via telehealth into the state shortly after lawmakers passed a law classifying the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances.
A few months later, Murrill announced that her office was launching an investigation into the doctor after Carpenter allegedly provided abortion medication to a woman who then needed to visit a hospital afterward.
New York’s abortion shield law has prevented Texas and Louisiana from extraditing or fining Carpenter.
Paxton has tried twice to pressure a New York county clerk to enforce a Texas civil judgment to no success. The governor has taken legal action against the clerk and is seeking a writ of mandamus to enforce the judgment and make sure Carpenter pays the Texas penalties.
