It is interesting that those who hide behind so-called “shield laws” should be the least bit surprised when pro-life states respond vigorously to pro-abortion states that are shipping mifepristone—the abortion pill—into their jurisdictions against their laws. Texas and Louisiana have been particularly aggressive in fighting New York physician Margaret Carpenter who not only is sending abortion pills into their states but is also not licensed to practice medicine in either state.
“Abortion shield laws face mounting pressure” Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech tells us. “Republicans are waging a multipronged campaign against abortion shield laws in blue states, hoping to force the federal government to ultimately intervene.”
Sixteen state attorneys general have urged Congress to consider federal legislation that would preempt state-level shield laws designed to block enforcement of pro-life laws.
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O’Connell-Domenech’s verdict? “Legal experts say the effort will be difficult.”
James Bopp Jr., general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, agrees. “It’s just not realistic,” he told O’Connell-Domenech. He added “that there is not a single anti-abortion Democratic senator and at most two anti-abortion Democrats in the House.”
Consequently, “There is absolutely zero prospect of it passing the Senate, and it makes no sense to waste your time on things that are completely hopeless and pointless,” Bopp said.
However, Bopp does believe that the state lawsuits filed by Texas and Louisiana that challenge abortion shield laws
have an objective legal merit, arguing that since each state is sovereign, no other state can regulate conduct within them. He argues that in attempting to do this, abortion shield laws deny “full faith and credit” to the state laws where these abortions occur.
“At least 18 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted abortion shield laws, which vary in kind but are all designed to protect abortionists against pro-life laws in other states,” Kate Quiñones reports. “Generally, states with abortion shield laws will refuse to extradite abortionists and won’t enforce judgments or penalties from another state.”
As we’ve reported numerous times, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading the charge.
In 2024 Paxton sued New York abortionist Margaret Carpenter, co-director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT), who mailed abortion pills to a Texas woman which resulted in the death of an unborn child and serious medical complications for the mother.
Last month, for the second time, Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck (New York) said he would not grant Texas’ motion that sought to enforce the order of State District Judge Bryan Gantt of Collin County District Court in Texas to Carpenter to pay a penalty of over $100,000 and to stop sending abortion pills into Texas. In March, Bruck had refused an initial request to file the judgment.
He was solidly backed by pro-abortion New York Gov. Kathy Hoch.
“Dr. Carpenter is a radical abortionist who must face justice, not get legal protection from New York liberals intent on ending the lives of as many unborn children as they can,” said Attorney General Paxton. “No matter where they reside, pro-abortion extremists who send drugs designed to kill the unborn into Texas will face the full force of our state’s pro-life laws.”
Earlier this year, grand jurors in West Baton Rouge Parish indicted Carpenter for prescribing an abortion pill online to a minor teenage girl in Port Allen, Louisiana.
District Attorney Tony Clayton said a warrant was issued for the arrest of Carpenter. “The daughter wanted the pregnancy and had a reveal party planned,” the district attorney said, according to The Advocate.
“The young child was told by the mother that she had to take the pill or else. The child took the pill was home alone… felt something happening to her body and began hemorrhaging, and the baby began to come out,” Chris Nakamoto reported.
“It’s the law of Louisiana. Gov. Landry, AG Liz Murrill, and our legislature has seen fit that abortions are illegal in this state,” Clayton said. “Shipping an abortion pill from another state is equivalent to me of shipping fentanyl or any other type of drug over here that ends up in the mouths and stomachs of our minor kids.”
Gov. Hochul again invoked the state’s shield law in rejecting a request to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana.
In a new and potential significant wrinkle, last month a Galveston, Texas man sued a California doctor in federal court for allegedly mailing his girlfriend abortion pills.
“The lawsuit—a civil complaint filed in the federal court for the Southern District of Texas—accuses a physician named Remy Coeytaux of violating state and federal laws by mailing abortion pills to ‘murder’ the ‘unborn child’ of the plaintiff, Jerry Rodriguez,” O’Connell-Domenech reported for The Hill.
Previous legal challenges were filed in state court.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.
The post Pro-Life States Launch Campaign Against Democrat States That Protect Illegal Abortionists appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Author: Dave Andrusko
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