BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — 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 Louisiana. The grand jury also issued an indictment against the minor’s mother, who has since turned herself in.
The indictment alleges that Carpenter and her company, Nightingale Medical, PC, provided a “cocktail of pills” to the mother, who directed her daughter to take the medication. The minor experienced a medical emergency after taking the pill and was treated at a hospital.
Carpenter is charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony. The mother is also charged with criminal abortion. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines, and the loss of their medical license.
This case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The indictment comes just months after Louisiana reclassified both mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she will not turn Carpenter over to Louisiana authorities, signaling a potential legal battle between the states. The case also raises questions about the legality of telemedicine abortions and the role of shield laws in protecting providers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned.
Abortion opponents and reproductive rights groups have expressed concerns about the indictment, with some arguing that it is an attempt to interfere with women’s rights and others arguing that it is a necessary step to protect the law.
