Paul Benjamin Linton (Loyola University of Chicago) has posted Transporting Abortifacients Across State Lines: Prospects for Indictment and Extradition on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article explores whether, and under what circumstances, a person who sends abortifacient drugs across state lines with the intent that the drugs will be used in violation of the criminal law of another State may be indicted and, if indicted, extradited to stand trial. The article concludes that such conduct falls within the criminal jurisdiction of the State to which the drugs were shipped. Nevertheless, if the person who arranged for the shipment of the drugs was not physically present in the State to which the drugs were sent, the out-of-state actor cannot be regarded as a fugitive from justice. Accordingly, the Governor of the State where the actor is found would have no obligation under federal law to extradite her. Whether she could be extradited would present an issue of state law only. In almost a third of the States, the out-of-state actor’s extradition would be prohibited by state law; in the other two-thirds of the States her extradition would be left up to the discretion of the Governor, whose decision to deny extradition would not be subject to judicial review. This suggests that bringing to justice persons who are alleged to have arranged for the shipment of abortifacient drugs from a State where their use would be legal into a State where their intended use would be illegal may prove challenging.