Attorney General Liz Murrill has joined Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and a coalition of 14 other state attorneys general in a multistate letter to Congress urging lawmakers to consider passing federal legislation to preempt pro-abortion States’ shield laws that attempt to protect those that ship abortion pills to States where abortion is illegal.

“Out-of-state abortion pill peddlers are violating the criminal laws of Louisiana and other states across the country that choose life. They aren’t providing healthcare, they’re drug dealers. I’ve asked the FDA to vacate the Biden administration’s 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for mifepristone. These drugs are dangerous if not dispensed in person and put women in danger of having to go to the emergency room for an ectopic pregnancy. Every time someone mails abortion pills to Louisiana, it’s a State and federal crime. If the FDA won’t act, Congress must," said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization placed authority over abortion laws with individual States. Many States have since outlawed abortion, but abortion pills such as mifepristone, which are taken to induce chemical abortions, are being shipped into States illegally. 

The letter asks Congress to consider acting at the federal level to address this issue. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, different States passed laws purporting to shield abortion providers from liability and prosecution for performing or aiding in abortions in other states. These laws are blatant attempts to interfere with States’ ability to enforce criminal laws within their borders and disrupt our constitutional structure. Therefore, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Attorney General Murrill, and a coalition of 14 other state attorneys general are asking Congress to pass legislation that preempts shield laws.

In addition to Attorney General Murrill, the attorneys general of the following States also signed on to the brief filed by Arkansas: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

To read the letter, click here.