Louisiana's attorney general is seeking to extradite a New York doctor who prescribed and sent abortion medication through the mail to a resident of the Pelican State, escalating a legal battle surrounding the doctor that could test the limits of state abortion shield laws.

The doctor, Margaret Carpenter, faces allegations from both Texas and Louisiana that she violated their laws by helping state residents get abortion pills. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued Carpenter in December for allegedly prescribing and sending abortion medication to a woman in the state last year, and a grand jury in Louisiana indicted her for the same reason last month, prompting state Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) to request her extradition last week.

Abortion in Louisiana is almost entirely banned unless deemed necessary to save the life of the mother or prevent “permanent impairment” of a life-sustaining organ.

New York, meanwhile, is one of eight states that has enacted an abortion shield law since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that granted Americans a constitutional right to abortion.

Those laws are meant to protect health care providers from criminal penalties if they prescribe medication used for abortions to........

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