Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has announced a multistate lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the abortion shield laws of New York, California and Massachusetts.
Joined by Alabama and Arkansas, Louisiana claims the shield laws violate the Constitution and federal law by promoting and facilitating the distribution of thousands of illegal abortion drugs through the mail and preventing pro-life states from enforcing their own laws.
After the Dobbs decision returned the issue of abortion to the states, Murrill says New York, California and Massachusetts moved to circumvent the Supreme Court by codifying abortion in their own territories and by “actively seeking ways to nullify the sovereign rights of pro-life states.”
Murrill’s office says the three states did so buy adopting shield-law policies that restrict cooperation with out-of-state law enforcement, limit extradition, prevent the enforcement of certain out-of-state judgments and subpoenas and harbor providers who prescribe and mail illegal abortion drugs into pro-life states. She says it all was done to “assure shield-law state residents that they can violate pro-life states’ laws with impunity and no fear of negative repercussions.”
Murrill said the three states “didn’t even try to hide their motives.” That includes New York Governor Kathy Hochul proclaiming, “They can’t stop us – they can’t stop our providers, they can’t stop New York, and that’s how we’re fighting back.”
Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas argue the shield laws are thus not shields at all, but they instead are swords disguised as shields and driven into pro-life states.
Murrill’s filing asks the Supreme Court to hold that the shield laws violate the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the equal-sovereignty doctrine, the federal common law of public nuisance and the Dormant Commerce Clause.
“Louisiana has made its position on abortion clear through the bipartisan will of the people’s representatives in its Legislature,” Murrill said. “Louisiana chooses life. We will not allow activists states, activist providers or distributors profiting from killing babies to threaten Louisiana’s sovereignty, violate Louisiana law or endanger Louisiana women and babies.”
Because of what Murrill calls the illegal enterprise that these shield laws have created and protected, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas also filed legal action in the Western District of Louisiana against 30 individuals and organizations who have flooded illegal abortion pills into pro-life states by advertising, prescribing, dispensing and shipping abortion drugs directly into Louisiana and other states.
“Alabama’s pro-life laws exist to protect mothers and their children,” Alabama AG Steve Marshall said. “This is a coordinated scheme by bad actors from out of state to defy Alabama law and harm people in our state. These drugs are dangerous for women who take them, and these companies knowingly break our laws and brag about it in their advertising.
“If state sovereignty means anything, it means Alabama cannot be forced to accept the death of unborn children and the harm it causes to mothers because someone outside our borders disagrees with our choice to protect life.”
The filing also claims the individuals and organizations made false or misleading representations concerning the safety, effectiveness, legality, risks and appropriate use of abortion-inducing drugs, including minimizing potential complications and the need for in-person medical care.
In Louisiana alone, Murrill’s office says those actions have resulted in the hospitalization of women and the deaths of thousands of unborn babies.
“The rule of law matters, and with this civil action, we are sending a clear signal that our states take our laws seriously,” Arkansas AG Tim Griffin said. “I have been proud to stand up for the lives of the unborn my entire time in public service, and I am proud to defend Arkansas’s pro-life laws through this civil action today.
“Arkansas’s General Assembly has repeatedly heeded the call to protect pregnant mothers and their unborn children, and I will continue to fight to uphold the General Assembly’s duly passed laws protecting life.”
The federal court lawsuit seeks to have to these actions declared a public nuisance. The states also seek injunctive relief, damages, civil penalties, statutory damages, attorney fees and costs.
