Three US states challenge laws protecting doctors at Supreme Court — The Hill
The attorneys general of Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas have filed a lawsuit directly with the US Supreme Court, challenging laws in New York, Massachusetts and California that protect doctors who mail medications for medication abortion. The Hill reports.
Lawsuit against state laws
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merrill and her colleagues argue that provisions in the three Democrat-led states violate four clauses of the US Constitution. In their view, these laws prevent states with abortion bans from enforcing their own legislation.
The plaintiffs also said that New York, Massachusetts and California allegedly did not limit themselves to guaranteeing access to abortion within their own territories, but seek to nullify the sovereign rights of states that oppose abortion. Separately, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Louisiana against people and organizations that prescribe or dispense abortion pills.
Escalation between states
Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama have near-total abortion bans in force: abortions are illegal at all stages of pregnancy, except in very limited cases involving a threat to the pregnant person's life. Louisiana also classifies mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances, restricting access to them.
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As the publication notes, this is the first legal dispute filed directly against states with laws protecting medical professionals, rather than against individual healthcare workers. More than a dozen states have provisions protecting medical professionals and other people from investigations and prosecutions from other states in cases involving abortion and gender-affirming care.
California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington protect medical professionals from punishment regardless of where the patient is located. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state would remain a refuge for reproductive freedom and that the lawsuit would fail.
Previous disputes
Earlier, Louisiana brought charges and sought the extradition of a doctor from New York who prescribed and mailed abortion medications to a state resident. In January, Merrill also brought charges against a doctor from California. California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Governor Kathy Hochul refused to comply with Louisiana's extradition requests in these cases.
