Virginia Senate passes bill to protect abortionists who break laws of pro-life states

The Virginia Senate on Monday passed a bill that would block the extradition of abortionists who face criminal charges for committing abortions on women from pro-life states. This shield law, however, would not protect an abortionist who commits the abortion within the borders of the pro-life state.

Senate Bill 1098 states, “Notwithstanding the provisions of this article, no demand for extradition of a person charged with a criminal violation of the laws of another state shall be recognized by the Governor if such alleged criminal violation involves a protected health care activity, unless the alleged criminal violation would also constitute a criminal offense under the laws of the Commonwealth [of Virginia].”

The Senate debated the bill, which also extends to cross-gender treatments, for 40 minutes, with Republicans expressing concern that minors will be sent the abortion pill without being seen by a doctor and without the knowledge of their parents via telemed abortion. Senator Mark Obenshain said that the bill “provides an avenue to circumvent the laws of other states.”

And indeed, abortion “shield laws” are meant to do exactly that — to allow doctors from pro-abortion states to break the laws of pro-life states by providing abortions (typically by means of sending abortion pills) to women living in those states.

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The passage of the bill in the Virginia Senate comes at nearly the same time as a new law was signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, allowing abortionists to anonymously prescribe the abortion pill to women and minors out of state. The push to protect abortionists is a response to two legal actions — one by Texas and one by Louisiana — against a New York abortionist who sent the abortion pill to patients in those pro-life states.

A Louisiana grand jury indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medicals, and the mother of a minor girl in Louisiana who allegedly pressured her daughter to take the abortion pills. The girl reportedly had been excited to be pregnant but after her mother pressured her into an abortion, she experienced serious complications and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Carpenter is also facing a lawsuit from Texas for mailing the abortion pill to a 20-year-old woman in the state though she is not licensed to practice in Texas. This woman also experienced complications, including severe bleeding, and had to seek emergency medical care.

Instead of having compassion or expressing outrage over the injuries suffered by the minor girl and young woman — neither of whom were afforded proper medical care when their abortions were purchased over the internet — legislators in New York and Virginia are rushing to protect the abortionists who are putting women in harm’s way.