People, we’re thinking old school here, in thinking of women traveling to other states, when the real issue is decidedly new school: abortion pills and the recent FDA decision to allow them to be dispensed by mail (after telemedicine consultations, in many cases). It’s spawned a series of bills in anti-abortion states, as I read in a CNN article just yesterday:
Several states have outlawed telemedicine abortions and sending the pills by mail.
But some, like Texas, have gone further by contemplating how they’ll prosecute providers who seek to send in abortion pills from out of state. Texas last year expanded upon its existing prohibitions on mailing medication abortion pills by classifying the offense as the type of crime that would warrant extradition.
Not so fast, say “safe haven” states. New York State alone has three pending bills that would variously prohibit courts and county clerks from 1) issuing subpoenas in re: any out-of-state-proceeding related to abortions legally performed in New York (text here) 2) prohibiting the arrest and prosecution of abortion providers in the state (here) and 3) prohibiting "the extradition of abortion providers unless the demanding state alleges that such person was present in the demanding state at the time of the offense and fled therefrom. (here)
And that’s just New York. California has legislation pending that would prohibit civil suits authorized by laws in another state against those who seek, perform, or aide in an abortion that is legal in California. Connecticut’s pending legislation would prohibit
state agencies from assisting investigations or prosecutions launched by out-of-state authorities and restrict the disclosure of reproductive health records sought by out-of-state subpoenas, among other provisions. (Same CNN article as above..)
Even if these cases are resolved by SCOTUS in favor of states like Texas, you can bet “safe haven” states would make civil suits inordinately expensive in both time and money and would cooperate in every possible option to drag out the extradition process.