(The Center Square) — A New York state court clerk has rejected the Texas’ attorney general’s effort to force a $100,000 judgment against a New York doctor accused of sending abortion pills to the state.
A U.S. District Court judge in Texas last month ordered Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City, to pay the penalty. She was accused of breaking that state’s law by prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to force the judgment by requesting a New York court enforce the $113,000 civil default civil fine against Carpenter, but acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused.
“In accordance with the New York State Shield Law, I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office,” Bruck said in a statement. “Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation.”
In December, Paxton sued Carpenter in U.S. District Court accusing her of violating Texas law by providing a Collin County resident with abortion-inducing drugs that terminated the pregnancy of the mother while also “causing serious health complications requiring medical intervention.” Carpenter is the co-medical director and founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.
Texas laws prohibit physicians or medical suppliers from providing abortion-inducing drugs by courier, delivery, or mail service. The state also bars physicians from treating patients or prescribing medicine through telehealth services unless they are licensed to practice medicine in Texas. The attorney general’s lawsuit said Carpenter knowingly broke the state’s laws on abortion.
A federal judge ruled Carpenter violated state laws, fined her $100,000 and ordered that she pay all court costs and attorney fees totaling over $13,000 with 7.5% interest for every day the fines aren’t paid. The ruling also permanently banned Carpenter from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents and from practicing medicine in Texas without a license and registration.
“I am outraged that New York would refuse to allow Texas to pursue enforcement of a civil judgment against a radical abortionist illegally peddling dangerous drugs across state lines,” Paxton said in a statement posted on social media in response to the clerk’s decision.
“New York is shredding the Constitution to hide lawbreakers from justice, and it must end,” he added. “I will not stop my efforts to enforce Texas’s pro-life laws that protect our unborn children and mothers.”
New York is one of several Democratic-led states that passed so-called “shield” laws blocking physicians that perform abortions from prosecution by other states in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal protections for abortions.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul praised Bruck for “bravely” rejecting Paxton’s request to levy the fine against Carpenter and criticizing the Texas attorney general as an “anti-woman, anti-abortion zealot.”
“New York is grateful for his courage and common sense,” Hochul said in a statement praising the clerk’s decision. “This is New York. We’ll never back down from fighting for these fundamental rights.””
Hochul last month invoked New York’s shield law in rejecting Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s request to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana to face charges of prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.
