Standing outside of Allegheny Reproductive Health Center in East Liberty Thursday afternoon, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro pledged to shield local abortion providers from lawsuits brought by neighboring states with total or near-total bans on the procedure.

Mr. Shapiro was joined at the news conference by two representatives from each of Pittsburgh’s freestanding abortion clinics, Sheila Ramgopal, the medical director of Allegheny Reproductive Health, and Sara Dixon, the public relations manager of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania.

In his prepared remarks, Mr. Shapiro addressed the streams of thousands of out-of-state residents seeking abortions in Pittsburgh after the U.S. Supreme Court stripped federal abortion protections three weeks ago, leaving the states with a patchwork of contradictory laws and their legal firepower trained on one another.

“No doctor, no patient should be put through the kind of chaos we’re seeing in the wake of the Dobbs decision because of politics,” Mr. Shapiro said, referring to the June 24 ruling. “I want you to know that we are here to protect you.”

Mr. Shapiro explained that the cross-border legal battle could intensify in the coming months, as the commonwealth sees a 500% increase in patients coming from neighboring and faraway states where highly restrictive laws or outright bans have already been implemented.

Dr. Ramgopal, who spoke following Mr. Shapiro, said that out-of-state and overall demand for services at Allegheny Reproductive Health have skyrocketed in the last three weeks. Call volume at the clinic has increased by roughly 1000%, Dr. Ramgopal said, and between 60 to 70 percent of callers are now from outside of the state. Before the Dobbs ruling, the figure was closer to 30%.