'Drug-dealing' network shielded by blue states targeted in SCOTUS challenge

By Fox News · Fox News

Louisiana Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill is escalating her fight against abortion pills entering states that ban abortions through two lawsuits — one targeting the providers accused of distributing the drugs and another challenging the blue-state laws shielding them from prosecution. Murrill, along with Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, sued New York, California and Massachusetts at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, alleging their shield laws block cooperation with investigations into abortion-pill providers. The attorneys general also filed a separate lawsuit in Louisiana against more than 30 people and organizations accused of advertising, prescribing, dispensing or shipping abortion pills into their states. "This is drug dealing and it's illegal," Murrill told Fox News Digital. "And we're going to continue to do everything that we can to enforce the laws in our states." The two lawsuits, filed Wednesday, are the latest move in a widening state-by-state fight over abortion. That conflict has grown since the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which struck down Roe v. Wade and gave elected officials the power to set abortion policy in their states. HAWLEY SENDS CRIMINAL REFERRAL OF 'LEFT-WING DARK-MONEY' GROUP OVER MAILED ABORTION DRUGS Murrill said the Supreme Court case targets the blue states' legal protections that have thwarted Louisiana's previous efforts to prosecute out-of-state doctors. "These shield laws are very comprehensive," Murrill said, arguing that California and New York prohibit officials from assisting other states seeking to enforce judgments stemming from abortion-related conduct. Louisiana has already indicted New York physician Margaret Carpenter and California physician Remy Coeytaux over allegations that they prescribed abortion drugs that were sent into Louisiana. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and California Democratic Gov. Gavin News…