Same abortionist ordered to pay fine in Texas case
Oswald Clark:
Abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter has been indicted in Louisiana and fined by the state of Texas for illegally prescribing the abortion pill to residents of their states after girls were hospitalized after ingesting it.
On Feb. 13, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced he signed an extradition warrant for New York abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter, who illegally trafficked the abortion pill into his state, hospitalizing a minor, and killing her preborn child.
Abortion is illegal in Louisiana except in cases of rape and incest, and the governor has been clear that he would uphold the law which includes facilitating abortion across state lines.
Landry said, “There is only one right answer in this situation and it is that that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana where she can stand trial and justice will be served,” adding, “We owe that to the minor, and to the innocent loss of life, and to the people of this state who stand by life overwhelmingly.”
The minor’s mother requested the abortion pill from Carpenter and then coerced her daughter to take the pills. Her daughter wanted to keep her baby and was preparing a gender reveal party when the chemical abortion ended the life of her preborn baby. Media reports quote Baton Rouge District Attorney Tony Clayton saying, “The young child was told by the mother that she had to take the pill or else, and the child took the pill.” He added, “To ship a pill from another state is equivalent to me shipping fentanyl or any other type of drugs over here that end up in the mouths and stomachs of our minor kids.”
The minor was hospitalized for an unspecified medical emergency.
The warrant was issued after a Louisiana grand jury indicted Carpenter for violating the state’s pro-life laws, which classify abortion pills as “controlled dangerous substances” – one of two states to do so. She was charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs.
Complicating matters, New York state has a “shield law” that protects abortionists from prosecution in other states if they mail abortion pills to states where abortion is illegal. The shield law also protects abortionists from any financial liability when the abortion pill causes harm to patients. The Louisiana case if the first test of a state’s shield law.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she would not sign an extradition order, stating, “Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York.” She claimed on X, formerly Twitter, “Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers, and I will uphold not only our Constitution, but the laws of our land.” She also said, “I will never under any circumstances turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition request. I will do everything I can to protect this doctor and allow her to continue the work that she’s doing that is so essential.”
New York is one of eight states that shield abortionists from prosecution in states where abortion is illegal. New York Attorney General Letitia James said of the shield law, “We will not allow people to weaponize the law and undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill responded to Hochul’s message, stating “This child was NOT this doctor’s patient. She never met her, saw her, or knew anything about her. The child is a victim,” adding Hochul “is protecting a drug dealer who victimized a child.”
Between the indictment and extradition order, Hochul signed into law a bill that permits abortionists to request dispensing pharmacists to take their names off abortion pill prescriptions.
If convicted, Carpenter faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.
Carpenter is also alleged to have prescribed the abortion pill to a 20-year-old woman near Dallas, Texas. In that case, Texas State District Judge Bryan Gantt ordered Carpenter to pay a $100,000 penalty as well as legal fees for breaking a Texas law by prescribing the abortion pill to a Texas resident in contravention of its ban on all abortion. He also permanently banned Carpenter from prescribing or sending abortion pills to Texas residents.
The abortion was discovered after the woman was hospitalized with complications – records show she was admitted “because of hemorrhage or severe bleeding” — from taking the abortion pill. The case was brought before the District Court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Gantt noted in his order that Carpenter never replied to the lawsuit and therefore did not enter a plea, nor did she appear at any of the hearings.
The Attorney General issued a statement following Gantt’s ruling, calling it “the first case in the nation to hold doctors accountable” for providing the abortion pill in a state where they are illegal.
Julie Kay, co-founder and its current executive director of Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT), said in a statement after the Texas order: “Despite ongoing attempts by anti-abortion state officials to restrict access to abortion care, particularly medication abortion, we want to be clear: medication abortion remains safe, legal, and available via telemedicine.” The abortion pill is not legal in states which have recriminalized abortion.
Carpenter was also co-founder of ACT, a New York-based group that provides technical and legal support to abortionists who wish to provide the pill through telemedicine, in part to contravene state laws against abortion. It was founded in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision, which permitted states to criminalize abortion.
Texas Right to Life said the District Court decision could be used to go after Aid Access, a pro-abortion organization that has shipped more than 19,000 abortion pills to women since Dobbs, many in contravention of state abortion law.
