Louisiana’s Baton Rouge. A Louisiana grand jury on Friday indicted a New York physician for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the nation’s most stringent near-total abortion prohibitions.
Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company, Nightingale Medical, PC, and a third party were indicted by grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge. A felony charge of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing medications was brought against all three.
At least since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022 and allowed states to enact stringent anti-abortion legislation, the case seems to be the first time a doctor has been charged with a crime for allegedly shipping abortion pills to another state.
In December, the Texas attorney general also charged Carpenter with delivering drugs to the state. There were no criminal charges in that instance.
Requests for comment from NBC News were not immediately answered by Carpenter.
Months after Louisiana became the first state to designate misoprostol and mifepristone as controlled hazardous drugs, the indictment was made. Medical professionals must take additional efforts to obtain the medications, but they are still permitted.
According to the law, a person who intentionally possesses misoprostol or mifepristone without a legitimate prescription for whatever reason faces a fine of up to $5,000 and a jail sentence of one to five years. Pregnant women who buy the medication without a prescription to take themselves are protected by the law.
Louisiana has had an almost complete prohibition on abortion since the demise of Roe v. Wade, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Physicians who are found guilty of executing an illegal abortion, including one using pills, might be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, fined up to $200,000, and have their medical license revoked.
Without a doubt, since Roe v. Wade was reversed, there has been an unsettling trend of interference with women’s rights, according to a statement released by the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, of which Carpenter is a founding member. Everyone should be alarmed by this state-sponsored attempt to punish a physician who is delivering safe and effective care, given the United States has a history of violence and intimidation against abortion doctors.
New York’s shield laws, which are designed to protect prescribers who use telehealth to give abortion pills to patients in jurisdictions where abortion is illegal, may be put to the test directly for the first time with Friday’s indictment.
We were always aware that anti-abortion politicians would continue to pursue their goals even after Roe v. Wade was overturned. That’s why, in a prepared statement, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated, “I worked with the Legislature to pass nation-leading laws to protect providers and patients.”
The shield legislation’s enforcer, Attorney General Letitia James, described the indictment as a “cowardly attempt” to “weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American.”
“We will not permit bad actors to compromise our providers’ capacity to provide essential care,” James continued. New York will make sure that all Americans who require medication abortion can continue to access it because it is safe, effective, and essential.
By 2023, pills will account for over two-thirds of abortions performed in the United States, making them the most popular method. Additionally, they are at the center of abortion-related political and legal action. A judge let three states to keep contesting federal government approvals for the prescription of one of the often involved medications in January.