9.30.2026 (PRESS STATEMENT) Today, the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overstep every state and federal court in the nation and strike down state laws in New York, Massachusetts, and California. These laws—known as “shield laws”—are designed to protect the states’ healthcare workers who provide abortion care from prosecution under other state’s abortion bans.

Nancy Northup, President & CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, issued the following statement in response:

“These southern states are going after abortion pills in every way they can, and this is perhaps their most brazen attempt yet. It’s part of the fearmongering campaign around abortion pills, this time using the Supreme Court as a megaphone to spread that fear and misinformation. These states want to make it impossible for their citizens to access abortion care, and that’s what this is about. Every state has a right to pass laws that protect their own citizens, including their healthcare workers.”

Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000 and has been used by more than 7.5 million people in the United States to end a pregnancy. Medication abortion is currently the most common method of abortion in the United States, accounting for nearly two thirds of all abortions. Decades of studies have shown that mifepristone is extraordinarily safe.

Studies have shown that states with abortion bans have higher maternal death rates. Pregnant people in states with bans have died and continue to die after being denied care in dire situations.

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