A Louisiana grand jury has indicted a New York doctor on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.
An indictment has been issued by grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medical, PC, and another individual. The charges include the felony of criminal abortion through the use of abortion-inducing drugs.
This is believed to be the first known case of a doctor facing criminal charges for allegedly sending abortion pills to another state following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022. This landmark decision has given states the opportunity to enact stringent anti-abortion legislation.
In December, Carpenter faced a lawsuit from the Texas attorney general over similar accusations of shipping pills to the state. However, criminal charges were not filed in that particular case.
Just a few months ago, Louisiana made history by becoming the first state to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances.” While these drugs are still permitted, medical professionals now have to navigate additional procedures to obtain them.
If an individual possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription, they could face severe consequences under the legislation. They may be subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for a period of one to five years. However, the law does provide safeguards for pregnant women who acquire the medication without a prescription for personal use.
Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban since the fall of Roe v. Wade. The law does not make any exceptions for cases of rape or incest. If found guilty of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, physicians could face severe consequences. These consequences include up to 15 years in prison, fines amounting to $200,000, and the loss of their medical license.
“Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights,” the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. “It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”
Friday’s indictment may serve as a significant test for New York’s shield laws, designed to safeguard healthcare providers who utilize telehealth to offer abortion pills to patients residing in states where abortion is prohibited.
“We always knew that overturning Roe v. Wade wasn’t the end of the road for anti-abortion politicians. That’s why I worked with the Legislature to pass nation-leading laws to protect providers and patients,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared release.
According to Attorney General Letitia James, the indictment is being seen as a “cowardly attempt” to “unjustly and un-Americanly weaponize the law against out-of-state providers.” James, who would be responsible for enforcing the shield law, strongly condemns this action.
James added, “we will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it.”
Pills have emerged as the primary method of abortion in the United States, constituting almost two-thirds of all abortions by 2023. These pills have also become a focal point for political and legal debates surrounding abortion. In January, a judge allowed three states to proceed with their efforts to question the federal government’s approval of the prescription guidelines for one of the drugs commonly used in abortion pill protocols.