Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor for violating Texas law by prescribing abortion pills to a woman in the Lone Star State.
According to the complaint, Paxton accused Dr. Margaret Carpenter of mailing drugs from New York to a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, Texas, who allegedly took the drugs when she was nine weeks pregnant.
When she started experiencing severe bleeding, she asked her baby's father, who was unaware of her pregnancy, to take her to the hospital.
The application does not say whether the woman was able to successfully terminate her pregnancy or whether she experienced any long-term medical complications from taking mifepristone and misoprostol.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit alleging that a New York doctor violated Lone Star state law by prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Paxton's case is the first to test legal protections for states with conflicting abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending federal protections on the issue. be.
Texas has anti-abortion laws with a few exceptions, while New York has a shield law that protects access to abortions and protects health care providers from out-of-state investigation and prosecution. is seen as tacitly allowing doctors to mail abortion pills. States with restrictions.
Texas has vowed to pursue such cases regardless of the shield law, but it is unclear what the courts will rule on the issue, which involves extraterritoriality, interstate commerce, and other legal issues. . New York state law allows Mr. Carpenter to refuse to comply with a Texas court order.
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A New York court also upheld a Texas law that prohibits prescribing abortion-inducing drugs by mail and prohibits treating Texas patients or prescribing drugs through telemedicine services without a valid Texas medical license. It is unclear whether he will agree to protect it.
The woman allegedly took mifepristone and misoprostol during her ninth week of pregnancy. (AP Photo/Charlie Neighborgal)
Texas abortion law prohibits prosecuting women who undergo abortions, but allows prosecution of doctors and others who help women obtain abortions.
The complaint alleges that Carpenter, founder of the Telemedicine Abortion Coalition, knowingly targeted Texas residents even though he is not licensed to practice medicine in the state and is not authorized to practice telemedicine in the state. He is said to have been treated. Mr. Paxton asked the Collin County Court to prohibit Mr. Carpenter from violating Texas law and impose a civil penalty of at least $100,000 for each violation.
Texas law states that doctors cannot prescribe abortion pills by mail, and prohibits doctors without a Texas license from providing telemedicine services or prescribing drugs to patients in the Lone Star State. are. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
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“In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to a patient,” Paxton said in a statement. “This doctor prescribed an unauthorized abortion-inducing drug via telemedicine, which resulted in the patient being hospitalized with severe complications. The state of Texas values the health and life of mothers and babies. “This is why it's out of state.'' Doctors may not prescribe illegal and dangerous abortion-inducing drugs to Texans. ”
Mr. Carpenter also works with AidAccess, an international abortion pill provider, and helped found Hey Jane, a telemedicine abortion care company.
