Democratic governors in states where abortion will remain legal, looking for ways to protect any patients traveling there for the procedure — along with the providers who help them — from being sued by their home states.
The Democratic governors of Colorado and North Carolina on Wednesday issued executive orders protecting abortion providers and patients from extradition to states that have banned the practice.
Abortion is legal in North Carolina as long as the viability of the fetus or certain medical emergencies are not in an outlying state in the state Southeast.
“This order will help protect the doctors and nurses of North Carolina and their patients from brutal right-wing criminal laws passed by other states,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in announcing the order.
The governors of Rhode Island and Maine also signed executive orders late Tuesday saying they would not cooperate with other states’ investigations into people seeking abortions or health care providers.
Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Dan Mackie said women should be trusted in their own health care decisions, and Democratic Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos said Rhode Island should do everything possible to protect access to reproductive health care because “other states attack a fundamental right” to choose.
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she would “stand in the way of any attempt to undermine, rollback, or completely eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine.”
Their offices confirmed Wednesday that they are a retrospective, protective step, and have not received any state requests to examine, prosecute or extradite a provider or patient.
Her efforts to protect abortion rights come as tougher restrictions and restrictions in conservative states are taking effect following a decision in the US Supreme Court last month in Dobbs v. Jackson, which ruled Roe v. Wade’s nearly half-century-old holding. That the right to abortion was protected by the US Constitution. The issue goes back to states, many of which have taken steps to reduce or restrict abortions.
Several states have already imposed new restrictions since the Supreme Court ruling and are pushing more to do so. On Wednesday in Louisiana, the state’s Supreme Court rejected the attorney general’s request to allow immediate enforcement of laws against most abortions, saying it was refusing to engage “at this early stage.” Enforcement was stayed by another court last week. Attorney General Jeff Landry tweeted that Wednesday’s ruling is “inevitable delays. Our legislature has fulfilled its constitutional duties, and now the judiciary must. It is disappointing that the time is not urgent.”
Democratic officials’ specific fears lie in a Texas law adopted last year to ban abortions after fetal heart activity is detected. The law allows any person other than a government official or employee to be prosecuted for performing an abortion or “willfully engaging in conduct which aids or abets the obtaining of it”.
The person filing the claim would be entitled to $10,000 for each abortion the subject involved – plus legal costs.
The US Supreme Court has so far refused to hear challenges to the Texas law.
Stanford Law School professor Bernadette Meyler said it is unclear whether decisions against out-of-state abortion providers will be held in the courts, especially if they are not advertising their services in states with restrictions.
But she also said it is unclear whether liberal states are on firm legal grounds to protect their residents from any lawsuits out of state.
“Perhaps, they believe that some of the laws they are passing will not be upheld or cannot be upheld, and they are trying to come as close as possible to protest the effects of Dobbs’ decision.” are,” Mailer said.
There may be resistance to cooperating with abortion-related investigations, however, she said. Places that declared themselves “sanctuary cities” and refused to cooperate with federal immigration checks during former President Donald Trump’s presidency were able to meet similar policies.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson said her group and other advocates for abortion are pushing for protections. “Everywhere we can advance the imagination of what a free and equal world would look like,” she said, “we are working with those governors.”
Connecticut was the first state to pass legislation to protect abortion providers, patients, and others from legal action taken by other states. Wade, Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, signed it in May, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“In accordance with Connecticut law, we will oppose any attempt by any other state to criminalize or intrude on a woman’s private and lawful health care decisions,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement last week.
Democratic governors of Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, California and Washington, and moderate Republican governors in liberal Massachusetts signed executive orders within days of the ruling to restrict cooperation with other states that may interfere with abortion access. .
“Access-seeking residents will be protected, providers will be protected, and abortions will continue to be legal, safe and accessible to term,” said New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
One of the largest abortion providers in Texas announced Wednesday that it plans to move its operations to the border of New Mexico. Whole Women’s Health announced Wednesday that it is looking to set up a new clinic in New Mexico City, near the state line, to provide abortions in the first and second trimesters.
The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a bill that aims to protect abortion providers and people seeking abortions from actions taken by other states. Delaware’s Democratic governor signed legislation expanding abortion access with various legal protections for abortion providers and patients, including out-of-state residents receiving abortions in Delaware.
New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed two bills Friday that moved swiftly to the Democratic-led Legislature after the ruling. The new laws are intended to protect the right of people from outside the state to receive abortion services within its borders and extradition of those involved in reproductive health care services to another state facing charges.
Murphy said he is “extremely angry” that he had to sign the bills, but is equally proud to do so.
“These laws will make New Jersey a beacon of freedom for every American woman,” he said during a signing ceremony in Jersey City, not far from the Statue of Liberty.
In Washington state, the governor barred state patrols from cooperating with out-of-state abortion investigations or prosecutions, but noted that they did not have jurisdiction over local law enforcement agencies. The executive in the county surrounding Seattle said Tuesday that its sheriff’s office and other executive branch departments would not cooperate with out-of-state lawsuits from abortion providers or patients.
The office of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said the state will deny non-fugitive extradition for criminal prosecutions surrounding abortion, but said an executive order is not required.
Some progressive prosecutors around the US have already announced they will not enforce some of the most restrictive, punitive anti-abortion laws. Police in Nashville issued a statement Wednesday saying they are “not abortion police,” a day after the city council passed a resolution calling on the department to make abortion investigations a lower priority.
City council members in two other liberal cities in conservative states — New Orleans and Austin, Texas — have called for similar proposals.
Hannah Schoenbaum is a core member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on secret issues. AP/Report for America Corps member Claire Rush also contributed from Portland, Oregon. Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Schoenbaum from Raleigh, North Carolina. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Anderson in Denver; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kimberly Crusey in Nashville; and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine.
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