Introduction

Shield laws, also known as interstate shield policies, are a new and evolving solution to address threats to reproductive healthcare access. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, abortion has been made illegal or severely restricted in 20 states, including 13 states that completely ban the provision of abortion care by imposing criminal penalties.¹ In response to this political reality, states that defend reproductive freedom began enacting shield laws to protect abortion providers, helpers, and patients from politically motivated states or individuals who attempt to enforce restrictive states’ abortion laws beyond their own borders.

Who and what do shield laws protect?

Who and what do shield laws protect?

A range of healthcare is threatened or banned by some anti-rights state governments, including the full range of reproductive healthcare (e.g., abortion, fertility care, and contraception) and gender-affirming care. Shield laws keep hostile states from penalizing those who provide, receive, and support this care in states where it remains legal. They do this by providing legal protections for providers, patients, and helpers who provide, support, or seek reproductive healthcare services and gender-affirming care. These protections come in the form of legislation and executive orders.

Where do shield laws protect?

Where do shield laws protect?

As of July 2026, 19 states and D.C. have codified a range of shield law protections, including 8 states that expressly protect the provision of telemedicine abortion regardless of the patient’s location. Four more states provide protections through executive orders exclusively.²

Types of shield laws

Types of shield laws

Shield laws vary by state, and some are broader than others, but most include several key protections for procedural and medication abortion. For example:

1. Shield laws protect against extradition:  Shield laws block efforts to detain and send someone to another state for criminal charges related to abortion care that was legally provided in the shield state.
2. Shield laws block out-of-state subpoenas and investigations: If someone in a state where abortion is banned tries to investigate or sue a provider in a shield law state, the shield law state will not share information or cooperate.
3. Shield laws protect against civil lawsuits: Many shield laws block individuals from filing civil lawsuits that seek to enforce out-of-state abortion restrictions, and also prohibit shield states from executing out-of-state civil judgments arising from protected care.
4. Shield laws protect medical records and information: Some shield laws stop clinics and doctors from having to share patient information with states that want to investigate abortion-related care.
5. Shield laws allow people to counter sue: In some states, people who are targeted by out-of-state lawsuits for providing or receiving protected care can sue back for damages. This could, for example, deter out-of-state bounty hunters from filing their own lawsuits for damages.
6. Shield laws protect providers’ licenses: Some shield laws prohibit in-state licensing boards from taking adverse actions such as suspending, revoking, or denying a provider’s medical license based solely on providing reproductive healthcare that is legal in the shield state. These laws can also prohibit medical insurers from discriminating against reproductive healthcare providers.
7. Shield laws protect cross-border telehealth abortion care: Some states expressly protect providers who prescribe and mail abortion medication to patients, regardless of the patient’s location.

Shield laws in court

Shield laws in court

State shield laws have not yet been fully tested in court. However, two states that have banned abortion have initiated legal actions that may test them. In one instance, Louisiana has alleged criminal wrongdoing by physicians based in New York and California, but has not succeeded in extraditing either physician to Louisiana for prosecution. In another, Texas obtained a default judgment for money damages against a physician based in New York. Texas then sought to enforce that judgment in New York, but a New York court clerk—relying upon the state’s shield law—refused to file the case. Texas is trying to compel the New York clerk to do so, and is currently appealing a New York court decision that sided with the clerk.

Impact of shield laws on telehealth

The impact of shield laws on telehealth access

Telehealth enables patients in ban states to meet with a provider by phone or video and receive abortion medication by mail. We know shield laws are working because people in states with extreme restrictions are still accessing abortion care.

The Society for Family Planning released an updated #WeCount report through December 2025 that aims to capture the shifts in abortion volume, by state and month, following Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade). The report includes data on telehealth abortion provision into ban states under the protection of shield laws, beginning with the enactment of New York’s telehealth shield law in June 2023.

According to that report, an average of nearly 15,000 abortions were provided via telehealth per month under shield laws by December 2025. Other relevant key findings include:

• The number of abortions delivered via telehealth continued to increase, while the number of in-person abortions remains steady with slight (non-commensurate) declines.   
• By the end of 2025, 1 in 3 abortions were provided via telehealth, compared to 1 in 20 at the time Dobbs was decided.

In short, as attacks on abortion access continue to proliferate, shield laws are providing critical protections that allow people to access the care they need. 

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