By Geoff Mulvihill and Sara Cline, Associated Press
(AP) BATON ROUGE, LA 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 filed a lawsuit against Carpenter on similar charges of supplying the state with drugs. There were no criminal charges in that instance.
A message was 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 get the medication without a prescription and take it themselves are protected by the law.
“We will hold people accountable for breaking the law,” Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill of Louisiana said in a statement on Friday. “I have said it before and I will say it again.”
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.”
Requests for response from Attorney General Letitia James, who would implement the shield law, were not immediately answered.
By 2023, over two-thirds of abortions performed in the United States will be performed by pills, 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.
From Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Mulvihill reported. Michael Hill, a correspondent for the Associated Press in Albany, New York, also provided information.
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