Louisiana’s Puzzling Prosecution of a New York Abortion Doctor
A New York doctor has been indicted in Louisiana on felony charges for allegedly providing an abortion across state lines via mail. On January 31, a West Baton Rouge Parish grand jury unanimously indicted Margaret Carpenter, a family medicine physician, along with her prescribing practice and a Louisiana mother, for providing abortion-inducing drugs to the mother’s underage daughter. This is the first case in which a doctor has been criminally charged for sending abortion-inducing drugs across state lines since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Louisiana prosecutors allege the mother threatened to force her pregnant teen daughter out of their home unless she took the pills obtained from Carpenter. After ingesting the medicine, the minor called 911 and was transported to the hospital due to complications.
“She was a minor and…she was excited,” said District Attorney Tony Clayton. “She had planned a reveal party. She wanted to have this baby.”
Shortly after Carpenter’s indictment, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed not to comply with any extradition request to send Carpenter to Louisiana for prosecution. New York’s shield law stipulates that courts and officials may not cooperate with states that try to prosecute providers who offer abortion via telemedicine. Hochul then signed a bill into law instituting additional protections that allow for the anonymization of prescribers of abortifacient drugs to avoid personal liability. During the bill signing, the governor proclaimed she would “never back down from this fight” over reproductive rights.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is prosecuting the case, called Hochul “sick and barbaric” for “cheerleading for the alleged coerced ab
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