Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion, state attorneys general have played central roles in both defending and eroding reproductive rights — and their power to do so extends far beyond their home states. Just in the past couple of months, the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama have sued California, Massachusetts and New York before the Supreme Court over shield laws that protect providers in the liberal-leaning states when they send abortion medications to patients in states with bans. The same conservative attorneys general have also sued individual providers in the liberal-leaning states in a federal district court.
Democratic attorneys general, meanwhile, have moved to protect abortion access within their own states and beyond. Arizona’s Kris Mayes and Massachusetts’ Andrea Joy Campbell have created reproductive rights units within their offices. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted shield laws related to reproductive healthcare, and their attorneys general will be the ones poised to defend the laws if they are challenged like those in the lawsuits brought by Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Attorneys general are elected in 43 states, appointed by the governor in five, elected by the legislature in Maine and appointed by the state Supreme Court in Tennessee. Here are some of the most competitive of the 30 races on ballots this year that could impact abortion access in those states and beyond: Democrat Mayes is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican Warren Petersen, who leads the party in the state Senate. Petersen backed legislation that established a 15-week abortion ban and supported a pre-statehood law that functioned as a near-total abortion ban.
After Arizonans in 2024 approved a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion access, Petersen intervened in court to continue defending aspects of the 15-week ban when Mayes would not. Mayes also created the state’s first-ever Reproductive Rights Unit within the attorney general’s office and joined with other Democratic attorneys general to challenge restrictions on medication abortion. Georgia’s current GOP attorney general, Chris Carr, unsuccessfully ran for governor this cycle, so Republican Brian Strickland, a state senator, is trying to hold the office in a race against Democrat Tanya Miller, a state House member.
Strickland voted for Georgia’s 2019 six-week abortion ban that was designed to take effect if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade; he has also sought restrictions on access to medication abortion. Miller, meanwhile, has said she opposes the six-week ban and that medical decisions should be made between women and their doctors.
The president of EMILY’s List, which backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, recently wrote an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution urging Georgia voters who support abortion access to back Miller. Incumbent Republican Brenna Bird is being challenged by Democrat Nathan Willems, a former state legislator. Bird has defended Iowa’s six-week abortion ban before the state Supreme Court, opposed medication abortion and supported anti-abortion pregnancy centers.
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