An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the state. The indictment charges Carpenter, her company, and the minor’s mother with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.
The case involves a 12-year-old girl who requested abortion medication online from Carpenter’s company, Nightingale Medical, PC. The girl’s mother turned herself in to police on Friday after a “cocktail of pills” was mailed to her and her daughter was treated for a medical emergency after taking the pill.
The indictment is the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The case has sparked a potential legal battle between the states, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul stating that she will not turn Carpenter over to Louisiana under any extradition requests.
The indictment comes as Louisiana has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country, with physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion facing up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines, and the loss of their medical license. The state’s law reclassifying both mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances” has also raised concerns about access to abortion pills.
Reproductive rights groups have criticized the indictment, with some arguing that it is an attempt to interfere with women’s access to necessary healthcare. Abortion opponents have also weighed in, with some arguing that the case is a necessary step to uphold the law.
The case is also being watched closely for its potential impact on the use of telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned. New York’s shield laws are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in other states, and the case could be a test of these laws.
