Louisiana Indicts New York Abortion Provider For Mailing Abortion Pills To Louisiana Patient
In the first case of its kind since the fall of Roe v. Wade, a Louisiana grand jury has indicted Dr. Maggie Carpenter, the New York OB-GYN whom Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued for prescribing telehealth abortion pills to a Texas woman.
On Jan. 31, Louisiana indicted Dr. Carpenter and issued an arrest warrant on charges of “criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs,” a felony punishable in the state by up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 of fines and the loss of a doctor’s medical license.
New York, Dr. Carpenter’s home state, has shield laws in place to protect telehealth abortion providers who send medication abortion to out-of-state patients. According to a statement from Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, “The criminalization of abortion care is a direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom. This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American. We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”
The Louisiana jury indicted Dr. Carpenter for mailing medication abortion to a teenage girl in Port Allen, La. District attorney Tony Clayton has claimed that the girl’s mother “coerced” her into the abortion, even though the indictment includes no mention of “coerced abortion,” Clayton—who went on a talk show to publicize the case—said that the mother has been taken into custody at West Baton Rouge Parish Jail.
Since Dobbs, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban with no restrictions for rape or incest. State Attorney General Liz Murrill stated on social media: “It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion,” she said. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.” Clayton also said, “We expect Dr. Carpenter to come to Louisiana and answer to these charges.”
New York is one of six states with shield laws in place for telehealth providers. Shield-state clinicians provide FDA-approved abortion pills by mail to about 12,000 patients every month in states with abortion bans, over 13 percent of abortions in the country. Even though telehealth abortion comes with some drawbacks, especially for low-income patients as many abortion funds won’t cover the cost of telehealth abortion for people living in ban states, telehealth has become a lifeline for many women living in states with hostile antiabortion legislation.
Dr. Carpenter is one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT). In a statement to the Louisiana Illuminator, ACT said, “The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country. Make no mistake, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights. 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.”
