A new war between the states is erupting — this time over abortion.

And if Gov. Kathy Hochul has her way, it will be the top talking point in her re-election campaign.

A dozen states, including Texas and Louisiana, have enacted near-total bans on abortion. 

New York and seven other states are going on the offense against them.

Hochul seeks to establish herself as America’s Supreme Leader on abortion, dictating policy across the country through the shield law she signed in 2023.

The law promises legal protection to New York doctors who prescribe abortion drugs via telemedicine to patients in states that restrict such treatments. 

Doctors are mailing abortion drugs to patients, sometimes without even a consultation, to thwart state laws.

Texas and Louisiana are coming after some of these doctors, including New York’s Dr. Margaret Carpenter.

Her offense is especially outrageous: She prescribed a cocktail of abortion drugs to a Louisiana woman — without confirming the woman was actually pregnant.

The recipient, who herself faces prosecution, allegedly forced the drugs on her pregnant 17-year-old daughter, who wanted to keep the baby.

Louisiana wants to extradite Carpenter and try her in criminal court.

A Texas court has slapped her with a $100,000 civil penalty.

Hochul says there’s “no way in hell” she’ll enforce the Texas penalty, or surrender Carpenter to Louisiana authorities.

Hochul buttressed her shield law this spring, when she signed additional measures allowing abortion docs to keep their names off prescription bottles — making it harder for out-of-state law enforcement to track them down.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from the Hudson Valley, worries that Hochul “has invited New York to be the abortion capital of the world.”   

Count on this battle to roil the New York governor’s race in 2026.

Lawler is frequently mentioned as Hochul’s possible opponent, as is ardent pro-lifer Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Stefanik gets an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a leading anti-abortion non-profit, for her work “defend[ing] the lives of the unborn” and “stopping hard-earned tax dollars from paying for abortion.”

In 2023 she co-sponsored the SAVE Mothers and Babies Act, which would have barred the FDA from approving new abortion drugs and required abortion pills to be administered in person by a doctor or nurse — effectively outlawing their use in states with abortion bans.

After the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling made abortion a local issue, Stefanik said it was time for the states to “embrace this debate” over abortion. 

Democrats in New York would like nothing more.

Expect them to run hard on abortion next year — because they won’t have much else.

With the Empire State’s population in decline, energy costs soaring, and high taxes and regulation throttling the economy, a hot-button issue like abortion is one of the few ways Democrats can inspire the party’s leftist base. 

As if crusading for abortion access in Texas could possibly make up for New York’s dead-last ranking in economic prospects, according to the Rich States, Poor States index.

In her last gubernatorial race, Hochul was a one-trick pony.

She unleashed millions of dollars’ worth of ads against Republican nominee Lee Zeldin, slamming his pro-life stance — and she won.

Lesson to the GOP: Take that issue off the table.

In New York, women’s reproductive rights are safely enshrined in the state’s constitution. The question is closed — or it should be.

New York’s clash with anti-abortion states is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court, perhaps ahead of the November 2026 gubernatorial vote.

It’s a big deal.

Every month, some 7,700 women in anti-abortion states terminate pregnancies with pills prescribed by telehealth doctors, according to the Society of Family Planning.

New Yorkers should be asking why they are footing the bill for this legal battle.

Shouldn’t the state just mind its own business?

The Dobbs decision empowered each state to make its own decisions about abortion.

But Hochul is actually helping New York doctors break the laws of other states, using state taxpayer resources to do so. 

She has long made New York a sanctuary state for illegal migrants. Now she wants to make New York a sanctuary for lawless abortion providers.  

Expect New York to get clobbered when this case reaches the highest court: Hochul’s efforts to evade and obstruct the laws of Texas and Louisiana violate the principles of federalism, as well as the spirit of Dobbs.

Meanwhile, don’t let the 2026 gubernatorial race devolve into a fistfight over abortion.

Politicians running for the state’s top job should be forced to focus on how to make New York affordable, safe and prosperous. 

And they should keep their noses out of other states’ business. 

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.