By Jack Queen (Reuters) – A ruling issued by a Texas state judge on Thursday requires a New York doctor to pay a significant penalty of at least $100,000 and cease the administration of abortion pills to women in Texas. This legal action represents a victory for Texas’ Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton. The case marks an initial assessment of conservative states’ authority to pursue legal action against physicians from other jurisdictions and curtail the distribution of abortion medications to their residents. It also scrutinizes the capacity of abortion-friendly states to shield healthcare providers from such legal proceedings.
Judge Bryan Gantt in Collin County, Texas, rendered a default judgment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter from New Paltz, New York, after she neglected to respond to the state’s civil lawsuit accusing her of unlawfully prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol – two drugs utilized in medication abortion – to a Texan woman via telemedicine. Dr. Carpenter, a co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, did not engage in the legal proceedings and was unresponsive to Reuters’ attempts to obtain her commentary.
The Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine has not yet issued a statement in response to the recent events. Previously, the organization criticized Paxton’s legal action, asserting that it endangers women by jeopardizing their access to safe and effective reproductive healthcare services.
An email inquiry seeking comment from Paxton’s office went unanswered at the time of reporting. Additionally, Dr. Carpenter is facing charges from a Louisiana grand jury for prescribing an abortion pill to a teenage patient in Louisiana, marking a rare instance whereby a state has criminally indicted a doctor from another state for prescribing abortion medication.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, disclosed that she would decline to sign the extradition order forwarded by the Louisiana governor requesting Dr. Carpenter’s arrest. Medication abortion constitutes over half of all abortions in the United States and has garnered increased attention following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitting states to prohibit abortion – a measure adopted by more than 20 states, including Texas.
New York and other states led by Democrats have enacted protective legislation known as shield laws to safeguard physicians administering abortion pills to patients residing in different states. These laws prohibit New York from cooperating with external efforts to prosecute, litigate, or otherwise penalize doctors providing such services, provided they adhere to New York’s statutes.
In the lawsuit against Dr. Carpenter in Texas, Paxton’s office alleged that she violated the state’s abortion regulations and occupational licensing laws by practicing medicine without a Texas license. The patient to whom Dr. Carpenter purportedly prescribed the medication sought medical attention at a hospital after experiencing complications, including bleeding, following the drug intake – a situation discovered by her partner, as outlined in the lawsuit.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Brendan Pierson, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Aurora Ellis
