Health Law Daily Wrap Up, DRUGS AND BIOLOGICS—U.S.: Three states file Supreme Court challenge against Democratic states’ shield laws, (Oct 1, 2026)

By Sheila Lynch-Afryl, J.D., M.A.

The states filed a second lawsuit in the Western District of Louisiana against 30 individuals and entities that “have flooded illegal abortion pills into pro-life states.”

Three Republican states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the shield laws in New York, Massachusetts, and California, arguing that the “sole purpose” of the laws is “to facilitate abortion by mail in pro-life states.” The states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama allege that they “invested in the promise of Dobbs” when they prohibited abortion but that Massachusetts, California, and New York have “shuttered that promise with shield laws intended to make abortion policy—their abortion policy—for the whole country” (Louisiana v. New York (U.S. Sept. 30, 2026)).

The complaint alleges that approximately 2,000 abortions are occurring in the plaintiff states per month, with a single Massachusetts prescriber responsible for at least 5,000 abortions in the states since 2024. The states argue that the abortions have increased their Medicaid costs due to care women require from complications. They also allege that they have suffered “direct sovereign harms from this avowed effort to effectuate abortion within their borders,” including the advertising and remote dispensing of abortion drugs in the states.

The states’ complaint requests that the Court enjoin officials in New York, Massachusetts, and California from enforcing their shield laws. It alleges violations of the Full Faith and Credit Clause (U.S. Const. art. IV, § 1), equal-sovereignty doctrine, federal common law of public nuisance, and dormant Commerce Clause (U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3).

The states filed a motion for leave to file a bill of complaint with the Supreme Court, though the Court is not guaranteed to grant it; earlier this year, the Court denied such a motion in a case filed by Florida against Washington and California.

Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama filed a second lawsuit in the Western District of Louisiana against 30 individuals and entities that, “through a sweeping, coordinated scheme, have flooded illegal abortion pills into pro-life states by advertising, prescribing, dispensing, and shipping abortion drugs directly into Louisiana and other states.” The complaint in Louisiana v. Nouhavandi, No. 2:26-cv-03836, alleges violations of the federal common law of public nuisance and the three states’ deceptive trade practices statutes.

Attorneys: Liz Murrill, Louisiana Department of Justice, for State of Louisiana.

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