But the end of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion has raised a question state lawmakers have yet to address: Can abortion’s opponents in other states sue or prosecute people in Illinois?
Legal scholars say that could be the new front in the battle over abortion, and courts ruling over an uncertain legal landscape may let plaintiffs and prosecutors reach across state lines.
It’s a concern for Dr. Colleen McNicholas, who performs abortions at a clinic along the Illinois border with Missouri, where abortion is banned. Physical and legal threats are not new for abortion providers, but McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said she is “expecting escalation,” possibly including cross-border legal actions. […]
Since the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in June, other states have passed laws aimed at shielding patients and providers from those court actions. Illinois legislators are studying the issue but have not acted, and some legal scholars say that has left people here exposed.
The law is unsettled enough that courts could rule prosecutors can target out-of-state providers who perform abortions on people from their states if some element of the alleged crime happened in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction, law professors said. […]
California has put a law on the books that bars the enforcement of a court judgment coming from a state that allows lawsuits over abortions. This summer, Massachusetts enacted broad protections against lawsuits and prosecutions, including banning the governor from extraditing someone charged with an abortion-related offense in another state that would be legal in Massachusetts.
While interstate legal wars have yet to erupt, they could be on the way to Illinois. Missouri legislators this year considered but did not pass legislation letting private citizens sue out-of-state providers or others who aid a Missourian in getting an abortion. The Republican legislator who pushed the measure, Mary Elizabeth Coleman, has said her legislation was aimed at the Planned Parenthood clinic that operates just across the border in Illinois. […]
Illinois legislators have spent recent months in a working group studying their options for eventual bills. They’ve looked at laws in other states that aim to shield providers and patients from legal jeopardy and considered the way digital data collection could be used to monitor and punish those who seek abortions, Democratic legislators said.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said this study process has been needed because enacting these laws is “not like flipping a switch.” She said the end of Roe showed her that those who favor abortion access have to be ready for new challenges. […]
The influx of patients to Illinois comes with new questions about interstate legal jeopardy that courts have not resolved, law professors said. The law is unsettled enough that courts could rule prosecutors can target out-of-state providers who perform abortions on people from their states if some element of the alleged crime happened in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction, law professors said.
Similarly, it’s unclear how successfully abortion opponents might be able to sue people in other states, legal experts said. Cohen, the Drexel University law professor, said out-of-state residents could sue over abortions performed in Illinois under existing wrongful death laws and potentially prevail.
“I’m not saying I would think that (lawsuit) should win but they could certainly try and a Missouri court could may agree with them,” he said.
The willingness of the Supreme Court to overturn the precedent of Roe means it’s hard to know what courts will allow, legal experts said. June Carbone, a University of Minnesota law professor, noted that even the effectiveness of new laws designed to shield abortion from legal attacks could be in question because those, too, would be subject to court challenges.
- Demoralized - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 11:42 am:
This is a truly scary issue. I’ll guarantee you that places like Texas, with their vindictive and insane Attorney General, will try to reach into other states and want to prosecute abortion providers. And he’s gonna want to prosecute those that go to other states for abortions as well. Once the court threw out decades of precedent they have opened all kinds of cans of worms.
- lake county democrat - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 12:01 pm:
What do all the red state corporations that avoided taking a stand on the anti-abortion laws by funding employee’s out-of-state abortions going to say if such suits are upheld? I think SCOTUS is still 1%er dominated enough to prevent that scenario.
- Sir Reel - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 12:06 pm:
When Republicans say abortion should be up to the states, they mean red states.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 12:14 pm:
– if some element of the alleged crime happened in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction–
Such as making a phone call from your house in an anti-choice state to schedule an appointment for service in a pro-choice state.
Visiting a website of a provider in a pro-choice state, from a location in an anti-choice state.
It would be trivial for a local SA to secure a warrant for your electronic records to prosecute such a local crime. The meta-data alone (do any of multiple out of state providers known phone numbers show up in any of your outgoing calls)would probably be enough to secure a more intrusive search warrant.
I see these states as soon to be going after the patients using out of state providers, more than the out of state providers directly. If they go after the providers at all it will be in ways to secure more criminal changes against a resident of their own state. The whole point of this theocracy nonsense is to punish women, and going after providers merely inconveniences women instead of directly punishing them.
But perhaps I’m missing something and the goal is going to be to saddle out of state providers with so much frivolous litigation they can’t conduct their business - using the courts as a weapon.
- notafraid - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 12:32 pm:
=unclear how successfully abortion opponents might be able to sue people in other states=
Certainly unclear to me. I think some are hyperventilating on this matter. But needs to be watched anyway.
Question, if anyone knows the answer.
When people come from other states to Illinois for an abortion is it under any circumstance it being paid for with Illinois Medicaid funds or some other federal/state taxpayer source?
- notafraid - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 12:47 pm:
=Mary Elizabeth Coleman, has said her legislation was aimed at the Planned Parenthood clinic that operates just across the border in Illinois=
None of her business what Illinois does. It is a State right under our Constitution as SCOTUS has ruled.
- Kelly Cassidy - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 1:22 pm:
NotAfraid: a couple of other jurisdictions have taken steps to waive residency requirements to allow folks to access medicaid coverage, but that opens up a potential unintended consequence when that patient goes back to their home state with their system showing that they got medical care here, so that’s not a great solution. Most folks are looking at increasing availability of private grant funds and/or making funds from the state or city available to those organizations providing funding for patients’ needs.
- Anotheretiree - Friday, Nov 18, 22 @ 1:25 pm:
==notafraid It is a State right under our Constitution as SCOTUS has ruled.== That was the old SCOTUS. All bets are off with a 6/3 GOP court.