Judge orders New York OB-GYN to stop sending abortion pills to Texas, pay $100K fine
The ruling marks the first time that a judge has found a person liable under Texas' House Bill 1280, which created steep criminal and civil penalties for aiding or performing illegal abortions.
A Texas judge Thursday ordered a New York OB-GYN to stop sending abortion pills to the Lone Star state and pay a $100,000 fine for sending the medications to a Texas woman, setting up a legal battle that could change the landscape of abortion access in the U.S.
The ruling, obtained by the American-Statesman part of the Paste BN Network, marks the first time that a judge has found a person liable under Texas House Bill 1280, which created steep civil and criminal penalties for illegally terminating a pregnancy. Texas bans abortions in almost all instances except when a pregnant person faces a "life-threatening condition." The state has no exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal anomalies.
It is also the first judgment in a case challenging "shield laws" designed to prevent states, such as Texas, with abortion bans from punishing doctors in other states, such as New York, that support the procedure.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in December sued Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, who is licensed in New York and co-founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine Access in 2022, on allegations she prescribed and mailed mifepristone and misoprostol to a 20-year-old woman from Collin County, which is Paxton's home turf in North Texas. These drugs are used to induce abortions and help clear miscarriages.
The original lawsuit noted that the biological father – who had not been informed beforehand about the pregnancy, according to the complaint – took the woman to the hospital when she began to hemorrhage. He learned she had terminated the pregnancy when he discovered the empty pill boxes at the woman's residence.
Carpenter has not appointed an attorney in the case nor has she responded to the lawsuit, Collin County court records show. She did not appear at a court hearing Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
Because Carpenter "failed to file any answer or responsive pleading" to the lawsuit despite repeated notifications, the allegations in Texas' case against her were admitted as fact, the order states.
The ruling by Judge Bryan Gantt, whom Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in September appointed to the 471st District Court, is a default ruling that permanently forbids Carpenter from prescribing abortion pills and fines her $100,000, plus around $13,000 in attorney fees, for violating Texas' abortion ban. The fees will accrue at an interest rate of 7.5% per day.
New York's 2022 shield law bars public entities from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into reproductive health care services. It also protects against subpoenas and witness summons and prohibits extradition of lawsuit defendants to other states.
Paxton in a Friday morning statement vowed to continue to fight the New York doctor and shield laws in states that allow abortions, as well as to enforce Texas statutes that "protect mothers and unborn babies."
“Radical out-of-state doctors will not be allowed to peddle dangerous and illegal drugs in Texas to kill unborn babies," Paxton said in a news release. "Any doctor attempting to do so will be punished to the full extent of the law."
Carpenter did not respond to the Statesman's repeated attempts to reach her by phone.
Paxton's office is also expected to seek to enforce the Texas court's judgment against Carpenter.
Reproductive law scholar Mary Ziegler previously told the Statesman that she expects the lawsuit to be moved to federal court and said it could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The University of California at Davis School of Law professor also noted that New York's shield law allows doctors to sue anyone who sues them for providing abortion-related telemedicine services.
"The question becomes, 'Can Texas make New York honor the judgment?'" Ziegler said in a phone interview Friday.
In addition to the civil penalties ordered by the Texas judge, Carpenter is also facing criminal charges in Louisiana for prescribing an abortion pill to a teenager in the state. On Thursday, Gov. Jeff Landry announced he had signed an extradition warrant for the OB-GYN, whom a state grand jury convicted last month of violating Louisiana's abortion ban.
"There is only one right answer in this situation, and it's that that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana where she can stand trial and justice will be served," Landry said Thursday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul swiftly denied the request.
"Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers," Hochul wrote on social media Thursday evening. "So let me be clear: I will not sign Louisiana’s extradition order – not now, not ever."