After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attempts to use New York courts to enforce Texas’s abortion bans, New York Attorney General Letitia James says she is intervening to bar this move.
James said on Monday, Sept. 8, that the Texas attorney general is suing a New York county clerk after his office was blocked from filing papers to collect a $113,000 judgment against a New York doctor who provided “safe, legal telehealth abortion care.
The New York Attorney General said the lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of New York’s shield law, which protects providers and patients by preventing state and local officials from helping out-of-state prosecutions for abortion or gender-affirming care.
On Monday, James said she formally intervened in the lawsuit to defend the shield law and ensure out-of-state extremists cannot use New York’s courts to advance their anti-abortion agenda.
“I am stepping in to defend the integrity of our laws and our courts against this blatant overreach,” said Attorney General James. “Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here.
“Our shield law exists to protect New Yorkers from out-of-state extremists, and New York will always stand strong as a safe haven for health care and freedom of choice,” she added. “I will fight every last attempt to roll back our rights and turn back the clock on reproductive freedom.”
Passed in 2023 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, James said New York’s shield law protects reproductive and gender-affirming care providers who offer fully legal health care.
She said the law prohibits public officials from enforcing out-of-state subpoenas, judgments, arrests, or extraditions in cases targeting providers, and extends these protections to reproductive health care providers offering telehealth care in New York.
In December 2024, James said that the Texas attorney general sued a New York doctor in Texas court for providing abortion telehealth care from her clinic in Ulster County.
After a Texas judge issued a $113,000 judgment against the doctor, James said the attorney general attempted to bring his case to New York courts, asking the Ulster County Supreme Court to enforce the judgment and help collect the money awarded in Texas.
However, James said the county clerk rejected the filing under New York’s shield law, which bars courts and officials from using state resources to enforce out-of-state punishments against protected health care providers.
In response, James said the Texas attorney general sued the clerk and challenged New York’s shield law, claiming the law violates the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause.
Now, Attorney General James is stepping in to defend the shield law. On Monday, she formally notified Ulster County Supreme Court Judge David Gandin that she is intervening in Texas’s lawsuit, invoking her authority to defend New York laws that are challenged in court.
In court filings to come, Attorney General James said she will argue that Texas cannot commandeer New York’s courts to enforce its punitive abortion laws, and that New York has the legal right and responsibility to safeguard its residents, its providers, and its courts from out-of-state overreach.
James noted that this case is part of a growing effort by anti-abortion politicians to extend their bans across state lines and punish providers and medical professionals who continue to offer abortion and reproductive health care.
The New York Attorney General said she is standing up to protect New York’s sovereignty and to ensure that one state’s politics cannot dictate people’s health care choices in another.
“At a time when reproductive freedom is under unprecedented attack, our state and its leaders must do everything in their power to protect those seeking abortion care and the providers delivering it,” said Robin Chappelle Golston, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. “We are incredibly fortunate to have an attorney general who embodies this commitment and is a tenacious defender of our freedoms.”
“As we are seeing more extremists in other states trying to encroach on our fundamental freedoms, New York’s leadership has been critical in fighting back. The steps Attorney General James has taken, from enforcing a shield law to implementing the ballot measure, are all paramount to stopping a nationwide abortion ban,” said Mini Timmmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All.
“Attorney General James’ decisive actions are exactly what we need in this crisis, and we’re grateful to her office for defending New Yorkers and ensuring providers and patients are protected from this dangerous overreach,” she added.
“We’re elated that Attorney General James is taking action against this latest attempt by the state of Texas to impose its abortion ban across state lines,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “For the many women who are unable to leave Texas for abortion care, using telehealth to get abortion pills has been a lifeline. The Texas Attorney General filed this lawsuit to intimidate doctors and cut off this critical lifeline for the women in his state. We can’t let that happen.”
