Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall speaks at a press conference on Sept. 30, 2026 announcing a lawsuit challenging abortion shield laws in Democratic-led states. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (left) and Louisiana Attorney General LIz Murrill (right) are also part of the lawsuit. (Piper Hutchinson/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and her counterparts in Arkansas and Alabama announced Wednesday they are suing three Democratic-led states over laws that grant immunity to doctors who prescribe abortion-inducing medication to people in states where it is illegal.
The lawsuit, filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, alleges laws in California, Massachusetts and New York violate the U.S. Constitution by circumventing its Full Faith and Credit Clause, which generally requires states to respect the laws and judicial proceedings of other states.
Following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women Health Organization, which eliminated the right to access an abortion, Democratic-controlled states enacted shield laws that prevent medical providers in their states from being punished for providing abortion care to people in states where abortion is illegal. Murrill’s lawsuit asks justices to invalidate the laws of the three defendant states.
“We will not allow activist states, activist providers or distributors profiting from killing babies to threaten Louisiana’s sovereignty, violate Louisiana’s laws and endanger Louisiana women and Louisiana babies,” Murrill said at a news conference in Baton Rouge announcing the lawsuit. Joining her were fellow Republican Attorneys General Tim Griffin of Arkansas and Steve Marshall of Alabama.
Murrill’s conflict with shield laws most notably flared in 2025 when New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, refused to comply with her extradition request for a New York doctor. Murrill, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s backing, indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter for criminal abortion, a felony in Louisiana, after she prescribed abortion pills to a teenager in Louisiana.
“Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” Hochul said at the time. “Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers … I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana. Not now, not ever.”
Murrill and other attorneys general previously called on Congress to end shield laws.
Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama all have near-total abortion bans, under which abortion is illegal at all stages except in extremely limited circumstances in which the individual’s life is endangered by the pregnancy. Doctors have raised concerns that these exceptions are too narrow.
On Wednesday, Murrill, Griffin and Marshall compared abortion-inducing medications to illegal drugs.
“It is no different than if they were sending fentanyl in these boxes,” Murrill said.
The trio also filed a separate federal lawsuit in Louisiana’s Western District Court naming 30 medical providers or medical care organizations as defendants. It alleges they provide abortion-inducing medication without a medical consultation to individuals in Louisiana and that they misrepresent the risks of the drugs.
The attorneys general said approximately 800 medication-induced abortions occur monthly in Louisiana, as well as 300 in Arkansas and 500 in Alabama.
“There’s nothing about these mail order abortions that even remotely look like healthcare,” Griffin said. “A healthcare provider would never, anonymously, without ever seeing the patient prescribe a medicine, without knowing anything about the individual.”
“It doesn’t matter how many times you call it healthcare or maternal care or whatever. It’s not. You can call a crawfish a shrimp all you want, but it’s still a crawfish,” Griffin added.
Murrill said that in the course of investigating the issue, her office participated in controlled buys of abortion-inducing medication and said they were able to order the medication without speaking to a doctor or providing any information that would verify the identity of the purchaser or whether the pregnancy meets the criteria for the medication.
“That’s part of what makes them so dangerous because there’s no accountability in this system whatsoever,” Murrill said. “There’s no oversight. There’s no medical treatment. There’s no medical healthcare provider.”
Murrill showed several bottles of the medication her office was able to obtain. The bottles did not include any information about the prescriber or information about the risks of the medication.
New York and several other states have laws that allow doctors to remove their names from prescribed abortion pills.
Mifepristone and misoprostol, the two medications commonly prescribed to end a pregnancy, are considered safe and effective when used as prescribed. Like any medication, they also come with a risk of side effects or complications.
This story was originally produced by Louisiana Illuminator, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Alabama Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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Author: Piper Hutchinson