Massachusetts passed its bill allowing anonymous prescribing of abortion pills in early August. That’s because California-based pharmacies have come to play a pivotal role in the distribution of abortion pills nationwide. Few shield law providers mail mifepristone themselves, with most relying instead on pharmacies in California. “We’re really the main hub for mailing abortion pills,” said Jessica Nouhavandi, lead pharmacist and co-founder of the online pharmacy Honeybee Health, which was the first U.S.-based online pharmacy to ship abortion pills directly to patients and remains the nation’s largest distributor of mailed abortion pills. Then, in January, Carpenter was indicted by a grand jury in Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor and charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs.