Attorneys General File Coordinated Lawsuits Challenging Telehealth Abortion Providers and State Shield Laws

Three Republican-led states (Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana) have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the “shield laws” enacted by three Democratic-led states (California, Massachusetts, and New York) that protect out-of-state medical providers from prosecution for prescribing and mailing abortion pills. The Republican Attorneys General argue that these protections infringe upon their own state sovereignty and undermine their states’ strict abortion bans. Concurrently, these same Republican-led states filed a separate lawsuit against 30 out-of-state medication abortion providers, pharmacies, and other organizations, alleging false advertising and other practices impacting patients in restricted states, setting up an significant dispute over mail-order and interstate telehealth abortion access following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.