EXTRATERRITORIAL STATE CRIMINAL LAW, POST-DOBBS

Like the federal government, states can apply their laws to people beyond their borders. Statutes can reach out-of-state conduct, such as fraud, that has effects within the state, and in some circumstances, states can prosecute their own citizens for out-of-state conduct. Many applications of extraterritorial jurisdiction are well established and uncontroversial; state common law and the Model Penal Code provide for such authority. The practice draws little attention when states' criminal laws are broadly similar and treat the same activities as crimes. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, however, state laws now sharply conflict over conduct related to abortion services. In addition to prohibiting in-state activities that facilitate access to abortions, some state legislatures and local prosecutors seek to extend criminal liability to persons acting in states in which their conduct is legal. Louisiana, for example, made it a crime for anyone outside of Louisiana to ship "abortion-inducing drugs" to a Louisiana resident.