Texas officials are suing a New York doctor they accuse of illegally mailing abortion pills to a 20-year-old woman residing in their state — setting up a test of New York’s protections for doctors who provide reproductive health care to out-of-state patients.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, could prompt a pitched legal battle and set the stage for other interstate abortion-access fights. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 22 states and Washington, D.C. have “shield” laws like ones Hochul signed in 2022 and 2023, seeking to protect healthcare providers from out-of-state investigations or prosecutions.
Both New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul issued statements Friday saying they were committed to protecting medical healthcare providers from what James described as “out-of-state anti-choice attacks.” But neither statement said specifically what measures New York officials might take in response to Texas’ lawsuit. In Hochul’s statement, she said she was “committed to maintaining New York’s status as a safe harbor for all who seek abortion care.”
Abortion is legal in New York, but illegal in Texas once cardiac activity is detectable, which is around the six-week mark. New York’s shield laws, drafted in response to the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning of Roe v. Wade, prohibit state or local agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigators who are looking to sanction people for reproductive care that would be legal in New York. The shield laws bar the governor from recognizing an extradition demand over protected care and say witnesses in New York can’t be compelled to testify in out-of-state proceedings about such care.
Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, told the Associated Press Friday that Texas’ suit could have a chilling effect — making doctors nervous about mailing abortion pills to Texas. She said such lawsuits have long been expected, as Republican-controlled states began restricting abortion following the 2022 Supreme Court decision, and Democratic-led states began shoring up protections in response.
According to Paxton’s filing in a Texas district court, a 20-year-old woman sought out Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, a practicing New York doctor, for abortion medication through telehealth services. Carpenter, who founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, also known as the ACT Group, provided the 20-year-old with mifepristone and misoprostol, which can induce abortions for those up to 10 weeks pregnant, the lawsuit says.
Shortly after taking the abortion medications, the 20-year-old, who had been nine weeks pregnant, was taken to the hospital for complications, including hemorrhaging and severe bleeding, Texas’ lawsuit says. It did not specify what happened to the 20-year-old afterwards.
Paxton’s lawsuit is calling for civil penalties of at least $100,000 for each of what it says are Carpenter’s violations of Texas law. It also looks to enjoin Carpenter from breaking Texas law any further. Texas hasn’t taken criminal action against Carpenter.
“In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday.
The ACT Group hasn’t returned a message left Friday seeking comment.
