Over a Dozen GOP AGs Are Waging War on Abortion Pill Shield Laws

Fifteen attorneys general, led by Arkansas AG Tim Griffin, have signed an open letter pleading with Congress to take the entire system down.

By Danielle Han | July 31, 2025 | 10:16am

Abortion Politics

Over a Dozen GOP AGs Are Waging War on Abortion Pill Shield Laws

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. Photo: Screenshot

Shield laws are really starting to piss off Republicans. After seeing their contemporaries, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, humiliate themselves in a wildly unsuccessful goose-chase against the New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a woman in Texas, 15 attorneys general have now signed an open letter pleading with Congress to take the entire system down.

“These laws are blatant attempts to interfere with States’ ability to enforce criminal laws within their borders and disrupt our constitutional structure,” the letter states. “Therefore, we are asking Congress to assess the constitutional authority it may have to preempt shield laws.” Nothing screams democracy besides a search-and-destroy mission?

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The letter, which was presented by Arkansas AG (and Atwoodian villain) Tim Griffin, was signed by attorneys general in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and, who could forget?–Texas. And while it’s a blatant attempt to further criminalize abortion in a post-Dobbs world, it also bodes an unsettling glimpse into how vengeful anti-abortion politicians can really be. In an announcement on Tuesday, Griffin said: “Let’s just say, I’m optimistic that we’ll get something changed here.”

The AG also announced on Twitter that he’d be sending cease-and-desist letters to at least two telehealth providers from other states, citing a fear that they could–and allegedly have–sent abortion pills to Arkansans. But who knows? The last time he went outside his jurisdiction to go after a clinic, the provider didn’t even have a telemedicine program. Embarrassing. (And while we’re here, let’s not forget his hissy fit over the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.)

Shield laws have been a newer target of the GOP’s anti-abortion agenda, as they are a temporary workaround to improving access in states with near-total and total bans, and are meant to protect health care providers in presumably blue states from being fined or prosecuted in abortion-banned states. Connecticut was the first Democrat-led state to pass a shield law after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, and nearly a dozen states now have them.

But such laws, Griffin says, “are blatant attempts by some states to interfere with other states’ ability to enforce our laws within our borders.” And because the AG believes that shield protections interfere with the criminal process, they thus affect the constitutional structure. Because, again, what else screams democracy than exacting control over pregnant bodies?

As ridiculous as the attorneys’ general reactions to shield laws are, dismantling them can have serious consequences for the country’s already crumbling abortion policies. It can have a “chilling effect” for providers in particular, Temple University Law School Dean Rachel Rebouché previously told The Michigan Independent. “No one wants to be indicted for a crime.”

For now, there’s been no response to the letter–other than other state suck-ups tooting their own horns: Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s office was quick to release a statement saying she was “proud that Arkansas is the most pro-life state in the country. First in the country for being the most anti-abortion (even though I’m pretty sure that dishonor belongs to Texas) and 47th in the country for child welfare! You go, Arkansas.

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