Law Courts

Red states are taking a case involving mail order abortion pills to the Supreme Court. The outcome could impact abortion pill access nationwide, including in New York.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey Campbell is defending abortion-pill protections as several red states challenge these protections in the US Supreme Court. The article does not mention any connection to New York.

Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against New York, Massachusetts, and California challenging abortion shield laws that protect providers who mail abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans. This legal action marks the first time states with abortion bans have directly sued states with abortion shield laws, escalating the conflict between states with opposing abortion policies.

Catholic bishops and religious sisters in New York and Illinois have filed lawsuits against their states' assisted suicide laws, winning temporary court rulings that prevent enforcement of these laws against them while litigation continues. These lawsuits argue that the laws compel Catholic healthcare providers to violate their conscience by participating in or promoting assisted suicide, which the Church opposes as contrary to its mission and moral teachings.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced federal lawsuits against New York, California, and Massachusetts for enabling mail-order abortions by refusing to extradite abortionists charged with sending abortion pills into Louisiana, where elective abortion is banned. The state argues that these 'shield' laws violate Louisiana's sovereignty and criminal laws, citing cases where mailed abortion drugs resulted in the deaths of babies and harm to women, and is also challenging the FDA's 2023 policy allowing telehealth prescribing and mail delivery of abortion pills in federal court.

The attorneys general of Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas filed a lawsuit on September 30 challenging the abortion 'shield laws' of New York, California, and Massachusetts, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case. The lawsuit argues that these shield laws protect abortion providers who mail abortion-inducing drugs to states with abortion restrictions, and the case has drawn responses from both sides, including statements from New York Attorney General Letitia James and pro-life leader Marjorie Dannenfelser.

An undated file photo shows a Dominican Sister of Hawthorne serving a resident at Rosary Hill Home in New York. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.americamagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260731T1356-JUDGE-BLOCKS-NUNS-ASSISTED-SUICIDE-ENFORCEMENT-1824229-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C565&ssl=1" /> A federal judge July 30 temporarily shielded four orders of women religious and Catholic health care ministries from enforcement of a New York state law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide. The post Court shields women religious from New York assisted suicide law