The long-expected constitutional showdown over states’ rights and abortion rights is here.
Nina Martin, Mother Jones
Oct 1, 2026
In what promises to be the most consequential showdown over reproductive rights since the end of Roe v. Wade, three states with near-total abortion bans asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to strike down blue-state laws that have enabled tens of thousands of abortions every year across state lines since 2022.
The action by Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas was a dramatic escalation in the long-running battle over so-called shield laws, which provide legal immunity to doctors, organizations, and advocates in liberal states who deliver abortion care, mostly in the form of pills, to people in states with draconian abortion laws.