New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill to Louisiana patient

A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury Friday for prescribing abortion medication via telehealth to a woman in the state.

Grand jurors in Baton Rouge indicted Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, along with her company Nightingale Medical PC and a second person. Carpenter, a doctor and co-founder of the New York nonprofit the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT) was also sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a young woman in the state.

Louisiana and Texas both have some of the strictest abortion laws in the country. Abortion is banned in Louisiana with exceptions for rape and incest, while Texas law bans almost all abortions unless a doctor determines the pregnancy poses a threat to the life of the mother or poses a risk of “substantial impairment” to a bodily function.

Last year, Louisiana also reclassified the two drugs needed for a medication abortion —mifepristone and misoprostol — as Schedule IV controlled substances.

“It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion,” said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in a post to the social platform X. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.”

The case appears to be the first time criminal charges have been issued against a physician for prescribing and sending abortion medication to a person in a state where they do not practice.

It is also the first test of New York’s shield law, which is meant to protect providers from out-of-state investigations and prosecutions for sending abortion pills to patients with strict restrictions on abortion.

“The New York Shield Law, passed with the help of ACT in 2023, and Shield Laws across the country enable licensed healthcare professionals to successfully deliver reproductive healthcare to patients in under resourced areas nationwide. ACT stands behind these laws,” the ACT said.

“Since Roe v Wade was overturned, we've witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights," the nonprofit added. "It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”

New York leadership appears prepared to fight against any extradition requests from Louisiana.

“I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition requests,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul in a video message.

New York Attorney General Letitia James called the criminalization of abortion care a “direct and brazen” attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy.

“This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American,” she said in a statement. “We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”

Medication abortions using the drug mifepristone were first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 and accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The Associated Press contributed.

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