A decide in Texas on Thursday fined a health care provider from New York for prescribing abortion tablets to a lady outdoors of Dallas in a ruling that might change the panorama of abortion regulation in Democratic states.
Earlier Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the identical physician, Maggie Carpenter, who was charged for prescribing a Louisiana pregnant minor abortion tablets.
Texas didn’t file fees towards Carpenter, however accused her in a lawsuit late final yr of violating state regulation by prescribing the treatment by means of a telemedicine technique, The Related Press reported.
Carpenter has been ordered to pay greater than $100,000 in penalties in Texas, State District Decide Bryan Gantt issued Thursday. She additionally should pay lawyer’s charges, and an injunction was handed down banning the physician from prescribing treatment to Texas residents.
In his order, Gantt mentioned Carpenter was offered discover however didn’t seem in court docket, the AP famous.
Louisiana Lawyer Basic Liz Murrill signed an extradition kind on Wednesday for Carpenter. It was lower than two weeks after a grand jury indicted her over the incident.
Murrill mentioned she handed alongside the extradition kind to Gov. Jeff Landry (R-La.) and so they plan to take “any and all legal actions” to implement the state’s felony legal guidelines.
Simply days earlier than, Hochul signed laws Monday to guard the identities of well being care suppliers that prescribe abortion treatment. 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 mentioned. “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 founding father of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. The group’s govt director, Julie Kay, mentioned the fantastic handed down from Texas doesn’t change protect legal guidelines in Democratic states, the AP reported.
“Patients can access medication abortion from licensed providers no matter where they live,” she mentioned.
Carpenter’s case in Louisiana would be the first time felony fees have been introduced towards a health care provider accused of prescribing abortion tablets in one other state.
After the 2022 Supreme Courtroom resolution Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, which struck down the constitutional proper to an abortion, varied Republican-held states, like Louisiana and Texas, have applied abortion restrictions, whereas Democratic states together with New York have sought to guard the follow and provide out-of-state sufferers entry to abortion treatment.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
