In a legal challenge to abortion access at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Department of Justice and Louisiana are on opposite sides. But they want the same thing.

Melissa Gira Grant
September 11, 2026

For the anti-abortion movement, overturning Roe v. Wade was never meant to be the end of the road. As destructive as the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was—it reversed Roe and permitted states to ban abortion—it did not eliminate abortion. In fact, since the decision, more people have had abortions, thanks to the widespread availability of medication abortion dispensed remotely. “The fight for life is far from over,” proclaimed the state of Louisiana in the opening line of its latest legal challenge to abortion access, which the state argued before a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday. For Louisiana, it is not enough to have banned abortion within its borders; it wants to extend that prohibition to reach those outside the state. Now it’s claiming that outside forces have undermined the state’s sovereignty—simply by making it possible for Louisianans to continue to access abortion.

Continued; https://newrepublic.com/article/215327/accelerating-project-extend-abortion-bans-50-states