In one case that could have important implications for access to abortion in the United States, a Texas judge on Thursday ordered a New York doctor to stop the prescription and send pills for abortion to patients in Texas And to pay a penalty of over $ 100,000 for having provided drugs to a woman.
The case is expected to reach the Supreme Court and become a fundamental test in the growing battle between the states that prohibit abortion and the states that support the rights of abortion. In essence, he puts Texas, which has an almost total ban on abortion, against New York, which has a “telemedicine abortion shield law” intended to protect abortion suppliers who send drugs to patients in other states.
These shield laws have become a key strategy for the rights of abortion since the Supreme Court has canceled the national law for abortion in 2022. The laws, issued so far in eight states, stipulate that officials and agencies will not cooperate with civil seeds, Legal procedures or other legal actions filed against healthcare professionals who prescribe and send drugs for abortion to patients of other states.
These laws represent a clear departure from the typical interstate practices of extradition, honor quotes and sharing of information. Based on the laws on the shield of telemedicine abortion, which have been in use since summer 2023, health workers in the states where abortion is legal has sent more than 10,000 abortion pills per month to patients in states with prohibitions of abortion or restrictions.
The cause of the Texas was presented in December by the Prosecutor General of Texas, Ken Paxton, against Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter of New Paltz, NY, who works with telemedicine abortion organizations to provide pills to patients across the country . The cause claims that Dr. Carpenter, who is not authorized in Texas, has provided pills for abortions to a texas woman.
The order signed on Thursday by the judge Bryan Gantt of the District Court of County of Collin said that dr. Carpenter “is permanently imposed by the prescription of drugs that induce abortion to Texas residents”. The violation of an injunction can lead to an order of contempt by a judge, who could lead to further financial sanctions or a prison sentence. The judge also ordered a fine of $ 100,000 and about $ 13,000 in the most interest legal and judicial expenses.
With the New York shield law that prohibits cooperation with legal actions outside the state, dr. Carpenter and his lawyers did not respond to the cause of the Texas or appeared in court on Wednesday for an audition before the judge.
The 40 -minute session in court north of Dallas was particularly quiet and calm for a matter of this dispute and national meaning.
Two lawyers of the Prosecutor General Office asked the judge to issue a judgment of default in their favor, essentially a sentence against a defendant who has not shown or provided any response.
The lawyers of the Prosecutor General supported in the presentation of the Court who, since Dr. Carpenter did not respond in a certain period of time, Texas Law believes that “the accused from his non -response did not admit all the accusations of the complaint of establish responsibility for the facts “.
The defense table was empty. About 30 minutes from the hearing, judge Gantt said: “I noticed that it is not here”. He asked the lawyers of the Prosecutor General if they had news from Dr. Carpenter that morning.
When they said no, the judge asked the bailiff to “call the room” and to announce the name of Dr. Carpenter in the corridor outside the courtroom. Less than a minute later, the judicial officer returned and said: “Your honor, I called Margaret Daley Carpenter three times unanswered”.
Texas was the first state with a ban on abortion to start legal action against abortion suppliers in states with the laws on the shield. But other states are expected to follow the example.
In January the first criminal accusations were presented against an abortion provider of Shield-Leaw. In that case, a large state jury in Louisiana issued a criminal accusation, also against Dr. Carpenter, accusing it of having violated the ban on almost total abortion of Louisiana by sending pills to that state.
Thursday, the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, said he signed a mandate that tried to extract Dr. Carpenter in his state to be tried. The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, replied citing the law on the state shield and saying: “I will not sign an extradition order that came from the governor of the Louisiana, not now, never”.
The cases of Texas and Louisiana should lead to judicial battles with the state of New York.
New York’s refusal could induce Louisiana to ask the federal courts to order extradition, the experts said. The potential result is not clear, but Mary Ziegler, professor of law and abortion expert at the University of California, Davis, said that there was a legal precedent for extradition that was not required for the defendants who were not in the state in which the alleged crime was committed and did not escape from that state.
In the civil case, Texas is considered probable that a petition in a State Court in New York is present to try to collect the financial sanction. If New York should mention his law on the shield to discuss the penalty of Texas, as required, the case could turn into a battle to the Federal Court or the Supreme Court on the fact that the law on the shield is constitutional in allowing a state of refuse to cooperate with another state legal actions.
Dr. Carpenter was not reachable for a comment on the case of Texas or Louisiana. The abortion coalition for telemedicine, an organization that has co-founded, has released declarations in response to cases. “The shield laws are essential to safeguard and allow abortion regardless of the postal code of a patient or the ability to pay,” said the coalition. “They are fundamental to ensure that everyone can access reproductive health care as a human right”.
The cause of the Texas accuses Dr. Carpenter of providing a 20 -year -old woman the two drugs used in a standard abortion regime, MifePristone and Misoprostol. Typically used for 12 weeks in pregnancy, MifePro blocks a hormone necessary for the development of pregnancies and Misoprostol, taken from 24 to 48 hours later, causes contractions similar to an abortion.
According to a complaint filed by the office of the Prosecutor General of Texas, the woman, who had been nine weeks pregnant, asked the “biological father of his unborn child” to bring her to the emergency room in July “because of the hemorrhage or serious bleeding “. Wednesday in court, Ernest C. Garcia, head of the administrative law division in the office of the attorney general, said that at the hospital, the woman’s partner “ended up discovering that he had been pregnant” and that “then started a suspect that perhaps it had not been truthful about it.
When the man returned home, he found the drugs and realized that he had been taken to induce an abortion, said Garcia, adding “that individual then filed a complaint to the office of the Texas prosecutor”.
The case of Texas is an example of a growing model in the states with prohibitions of abortion: men who refer to the authorities that their female partners had abortions. There have been other cases of the genre in Texas and John Seago, the president of Texas, the right to life, declared in an interview that, in the coming weeks, several men have planned to present causes for unjust death against doctors, Organizations or people who have helped organize abortions for male companions.
Emily Cochrane Contributed relationships.