(KFF Health News) – Eight states — New York, Maine, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — have passed laws since 2022 to protect doctors who mail abortion pills out of state, and thereby block or “shield” them from extradition in such cases. But this is the first criminal test of these relatively new “shield laws.”

The telemedicine practice of consulting with remote patients and prescribing them medication abortion via the mail has grown in recent years — and is now playing a critical role in keeping abortion somewhat accessible in states with strict abortion laws, according to research from the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports abortion access. (Read More)