Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has said that she plans to sue California and New York after their governors refused to extradite doctors who prescribed abortion pills to women in her state.
Murrill argued in federal court on Feb. 5 that their refusal was unconstitutional because it failed to honor Louisiana’s abortion restrictions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose state has passed a law against such extraditions, responded on social media by accusing Murrill of attempting to criminalize health care.
The dispute was the latest to arise after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which gave states more flexibility to regulate abortion.
Murrill and others have argued that their states’ sovereignty is still being undermined because the Biden administration allowed the abortion pill to be mailed across state lines, a policy the Trump administration has continued for the time being.
That rule change from 2023 removed a requirement that the abortion pill mifepristone be distributed in person at clinics and hospitals. This allowed doctors in states where abortion remained legal to prescribe the drugs to out-of-state patients through telehealth sessions.
“[Hochul] and [Newsom] are not above the Constitution, and we will hold them accountable,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement on X on Feb. 5.
“The Supreme Court’s precedents on important Constitutional provisions like the Extradition Clause and the Full Faith and Credit Clause forbid this assault on Louisiana’s sovereignty and her citizens,” she said.
Those clauses, found in Article IV of the Constitution, say states have to turn over criminals who have fled justice from another state and must respect each other’s laws. Louisiana law largely prohibits abortion, with exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies and when the mother’s life or health is in serious danger.
Following the Dobbs decision, New York and California, along with several other states, passed so-called shield laws, immunizing local physicians who provided abortions to out-of-state women.
“Louisiana plans to sue me because I won’t extradite a doctor for providing an abortion,” Newsom wrote in a post on X in a response to Murrill’s impending suit on Feb. 5. “California will never help you criminalize health care.”
Murrill said in a response: “Killing Louisiana babies isn’t health care, nor is shielding California drug dealers. See ya soon.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Hochul for comment but did not obtain a response by publication.
