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Louisiana escalates battle against medication abortion

A New York doctor was indicted Friday by a grand jury in Louisiana for knowingly prescribing and providing medication abortion in violation of the state’s ban.

© The Hill, Greg Nash

It’s the first criminal case of its kind in the country and will likely be the first direct test of New York’s shield law, which protects doctors who use telehealth to prescribe abortion pills to patients where abortion is banned.

A Louisiana jury issued an indictment for Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medical PC and another person.

Carpenter, a doctor who practices in New Paltz, N.Y., was also sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year for prescribing and sending abortion pills to a young woman in the state.

Louisiana and Texas have some of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S. Abortion is almost entirely banned in Louisiana with exceptions for rape and incest. Last year, Louisiana also criminalized the possession of the two drugs need for a medication abortion — mifepristone and misoprostol — by rescheduling them as Schedule IV controlled substances.

In a post on X, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill committed to prosecuting anyone who sends abortion pills into the state. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” she wrote.

But New York leadership is prepared to fight any attempts to extradite physicians who prescribe abortion pills across state lines.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in that she would “never” turn a physician over to Louisiana as part of extradition request. And New York Attorney General Letitia James echoed that sentiment.

“This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American,” she said in a statement. “We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care,” she said.

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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