Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor who allegedly prescribed abortion medications to a woman in the Lone Star State, in violation of Texas law.
Paxton accused Dr. Margaret Carpenter of mailing pills from New York to a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, Texas, where the woman allegedly took the medication when she was nine weeks pregnant, according to the lawsuit.
When she started suffering from severe bleeding, she asked the girl's father, who did not know she was pregnant, to take her to the hospital.
The filing does not state whether the woman successfully terminated her pregnancy or if she experienced any long-term medical complications from taking mifepristone and misoprostol.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit accusing a New York doctor of prescribing abortion medications to a Texas woman, in violation of laws in the Lone Star State. (AP Photo/Eric Jay, File)
Paxton's lawsuit is the first attempt to test legal protections when it comes to states with conflicting abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court. Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Ending federal protections on this matter.
Texas has enacted a ban on abortion with few exceptions, while New York protects access to the procedure and has a shield law that protects providers from out-of-state investigations and prosecutions, which was seen as implicit permission for doctors to mail abortion pills into the United States. States with restrictions.
Texas has promised to pursue such cases regardless of the shield laws, though it is unclear what courts might decide on the issue, which involves extraterritorial jurisdiction, interstate commerce, and other legal issues. New York The law allows Carpenter to refuse to comply with Texas court orders.
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It is also unknown whether New York courts will side with the protection of the Texas law, which prohibits prescribing abortion-inducing drugs by mail and prohibits treating Texas patients or prescribing medications through telehealth services without a valid Texas medical license.
The woman allegedly took mifepristone and misoprostol when she was nine weeks pregnant. (AP Photo/Charlie Nebergall)
Abortion laws in Texas It prohibits the prosecution of a woman for having an abortion, but allows the prosecution of doctors or others who assist a woman in having the procedure.
The lawsuit says Carpenter, founder of the Telemedicine Abortion Coalition, knowingly treated Texas residents despite not being a doctor licensed in Texas and not being permitted to practice telemedicine in the state. Paxton urged the Collin County court to bar Carpenter from violating Texas law and impose civil penalties of at least $100,000 for each violation.
Texas law states that doctors cannot prescribe abortion medications by mail and prohibits doctors who do not have a Texas license from providing telehealth services or prescribing medications to patients in the Lone Star State. (AP Photo/Charlie Riddell, File)
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“In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused this patient serious harm,” Paxton said in a statement. “This doctor prescribed miscarriage-inducing medications — unapproved, via telemedicine — which caused her The patient ends up in the hospital With serious complications. In Texas, we value the health and lives of mothers and children, which is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing medications to Texans.
Carpenter also works with AidAccess, an international provider of abortion medications, and helped found Hey Jane, a company that provides telehealth abortion services.
