A judge in Texas on Thursday fined a doctor from New York for prescribing abortion pills to a woman outside of Dallas in a ruling that could change the landscape of abortion law in Democratic states.
Earlier Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the same doctor, Maggie Carpenter, who was charged for prescribing a Louisiana pregnant minor abortion pills.
Texas didn’t file charges against Carpenter, but accused her in a lawsuit late last year of violating state law by prescribing the medication through a telemedicine method, The Associated Press reported.
Carpenter has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 in penalties in Texas, State District Judge Bryan Gantt issued Thursday. She also must pay attorney’s fees, and an injunction was handed down banning the doctor from prescribing medication to Texas residents.
In his order, Gantt said Carpenter was provided notice but did not appear in court, the AP noted.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill signed an extradition form on Wednesday for Carpenter. It was less than two weeks after a grand jury indicted her over the incident.
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Murrill said she passed along the extradition form to Gov. Jeff Landry (R-La.) and they plan to take “any and all legal actions” to enforce the state’s criminal laws.
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Just days before, Hochul signed legislation Monday to protect the identities of health care providers that prescribe abortion medication. In an announcement on Thursday, Hochul addressed the extradition request.
“I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers, and I will uphold not only our constitution, but also the laws of our land,” Hochul said. “And I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the Governor of Louisiana: Not now, not ever.”
Carpenter is a co-medical director and the founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. The group’s executive director, Julie Kay, said the fine handed down from Texas doesn’t change shield laws in Democratic states, the AP reported.
“Patients can access medication abortion from licensed providers no matter where they live,” she said.
Carpenter’s case in Louisiana may be the first time criminal charges have been brought against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills in another state.
After the 2022 Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, various Republican-held states, like Louisiana and Texas, have implemented abortion restrictions, while Democratic states including New York have sought to protect the practice and offer out-of-state patients access to abortion medication.
