Shield law providers: What they are and how they work
What are shield laws and how do they help abortion access in states with bans?
If you're researching how people access abortion pills by mail in the US, you may have come across the term "shield law" and wondered what it actually means. This blog breaks down what shield laws are, how they work, and how they are expanding access to abortion pills by mail, particularly in states that restrict or ban abortion.
What is a shield law?
Shield laws are state laws designed to protect healthcare providers who offer abortion care to people across state lines. They work by protecting providers from civil or criminal cases brought against them by states with abortion bans. The “shield” states help providers by limiting cooperation with out-of-state investigations, including refusing extradition and patient records requests.
Currently, about 22 states have some form of abortion shield law on the books. Of those, eight states have shield laws that specifically protect providers who use telehealth to prescribe and mail medication abortion to patients physically located in other states — including states where abortion is banned. These currently include California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
These laws provide an important legal framework that has expanded telehealth abortion access to all 50 states. About half of all telehealth abortions are provided under this kind of shield-law protection, including in states that totally ban abortion.
How do shield laws work?
The most robust shield laws generally include several elements that are designed to protect healthcare providers and patient records:
- Explicit protection for telehealth care provided to patients in other states
- Refusal to honor out-of-state subpoenas or investigations
- Protection from extradition
- Protection against actions threatening professional licensing
- Refusal to enforce civil judgments from abortion-ban states
- Enhanced medical privacy and data protections
Many providers have decided to use the protections of these laws to serve patients in states where politicians have restricted access to abortion care. They do this because they believe that everyone deserves access to safe abortion care, regardless of their zip code.
Can a person in a state that restricts abortion care get abortion pills from a shield law provider?
Yes. Here’s how it works:
In states with shield laws in place, providers are legally allowed to prescribe and mail abortion pills to people in other states, including states with abortion restrictions. These laws are designed to prioritize a medical provider’s ability to provide care with modern telehealth to people who are subject to unjust abortion restrictions.
Plan C researches options for abortion pills by mail in all 50 states. This includes shield law providers mailing into restricted states, which now make up a significant percentage of care in states blocking in-person care. Visit Plan C’s guide to learn about these options.
What about legal risk to patients?
In the vast majority of states, it’s not against the law for pregnant people to access abortion care or end their own pregnancy with abortion pills or by any other method. But occasionally what the law says and what happens in reality can be very different.
In the US, the specifics of legal risk can depend on many factors – which state you're in, how you access care, your identity and socioeconomic status, and whether you travel. Read more about legal risk here.
People sometimes wonder why shield laws are focused on the provider and offer limited protection to the patient. This is because a state can’t write laws that apply to residents of another state. But it can protect patient records, patients traveling into the protective state, and other aspects of the patient side of remote telehealth care.
The Repro Legal Helpline provides free, confidential information that can help people better understand legal risk:
The bottom line
Shield laws are a real, meaningful legal protection. They're new, evolving, state-specific, and still being tested by courts and hostile state governments. And, they're a major reason telehealth abortion pill access has continued to expand and people who live in states with abortion restrictions are still able to get safe, convenient abortion care.
To learn more about shield laws and what they mean for you:
- read this Mother Jones article
- read this Ms. Magazine article
Note: This is general information, not legal advice about your specific situation. If you have concerns about your particular circumstances, the Repro Legal Helpline (run by If/When/How) offers free, confidential legal advice specifically for people navigating self-managed abortion and abortion access:
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