Louisiana woman pleads not guilty to felony after allegedly giving abortion pills from N.Y. doctor to her teen
A woman from Louisiana entered a plea of not guilty after being accused of obtaining abortion pills from a doctor in New York and giving them to her teenage daughter to terminate a pregnancy. This act is considered a felony in Louisiana, a state with one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the United States. The woman’s arraignment is part of a legal battle that involves the criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, highlighting the conflict between Louisiana’s abortion ban and New York’s shield laws.
In January, a grand jury in West Baton Rouge indicted the 39-year-old woman for criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony offense. The woman’s identity has been kept confidential to protect the minor involved. This indictment came after Louisiana reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol, a two-drug regimen used to end pregnancies up to the 10th week, as controlled dangerous substances. Despite this classification, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that these drugs are safe and effective for abortion procedures.
Abortion pills have become a common method of terminating pregnancies in the U.S. and have been at the center of legal and political disputes surrounding abortion access. The ease of obtaining these prescriptions online and over the phone has contributed to the rise in abortions across the country following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
According to Baton Rouge District Attorney Tony Clayton, the woman requested abortion medication from Dr. Margaret Carpenter in New York for her daughter without any consultation with the teenager. The pills were mailed to the woman, who then directed her daughter to take them. However, the girl experienced a medical emergency after taking the pills, leading to her hospitalization. A police investigation uncovered the involvement of an out-of-state doctor, resulting in indictments for both the woman in Louisiana and Dr. Carpenter in New York.
Under Louisiana law, physicians convicted of performing illegal abortions face severe penalties, including prison time, fines, and loss of their medical license. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued an extradition order for Dr. Carpenter to face justice in Louisiana, but New York Governor Kathy Hochul refused to sign the order, citing the differences in state laws. Similarly, a Texas judge ordered Dr. Carpenter to pay a penalty for violating Texas laws by prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.
This case represents a unique legal challenge in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade, where states have implemented strict anti-abortion laws. The criminal charges against Dr. Carpenter for providing abortion pills to another state highlight the complexity of abortion laws and access to reproductive healthcare in the United States.
