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(LifeSiteNews) — A Louisiana grand jury has indicted a New York-based doctor for unlawfully prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant minor in direct violation of state law. The indictment also cites the pregnant teenage girl’s mother who allegedly coerced her daughter into aborting the child.
“The daughter wanted the pregnancy and had a reveal party planned,” explained District Attorney Tony Clayton, according to a report by local news outlet, The Advocate.
The unanimous indictment issued by jurors at the Parish of West Baton Rouge District Court names Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the teen’s mother with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs.
If the New York doctor and the teen’s mother are convicted, the felony carries a possible prison sentence of one to five years.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took to social media over the weekend, calling the Louisiana indictment “outrageous.” She also said that the medication that was prescribed to the teen was “lifesaving,” and that the abortion doctor’s work is “essential.”
“We must stand firm and fight this and I will do everything I can to protect this doctor and allow her to continue the work that she is doing that is so essential,” the defiant Empire State governor declared.
New York is one of a handful of states that have instituted shield laws to protect New York doctors from criminal and civil suits filed in other states.
In response to Hochul’s outburst, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, “It is illegal to send abortion pills into this state and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion.”
“I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” Murrill said.
In a separate statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American.”
“Louisiana has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from high-risk abortion drugs,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Erik Baptist said. “Every abortion kills the baby and harms the mother, and the FDA’s own label says that roughly one in 25 women and girls taking abortion drugs will end up in the emergency room. If the FDA continues to recklessly disregard the serious risks that abortion drugs pose to pregnant women and girls, states are left with no choice but to step in and ensure that no one else is harmed by these drugs.”
While this appears to be the first time a state has brought criminal charges against an out-of-state doctor for prescribing and sending abortion pills through the mail, late last year a civil suit was filed in Texas against the same New York doctor.
In December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Dr. Carpenter, alleging that she “unlawfully provided a Collin County resident with abortion-inducing drugs that ended the life of an unborn child and resulted in serious complications for the mother, who then required medical intervention.”
Carpenter knowingly prescribed abortion pills to Texas residents “despite not being a licensed Texas physician and not being authorized to practice telemedicine in Texas.”
“In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient. This doctor prescribed abortion-inducing drugs – unauthorized, over telemedicine – causing (the woman) to end up in the hospital with serious complications. In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents,” Paxton said.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, once again allowing the elected branches of government to ban abortion, states have enacted wildly differing laws, with Texas establishing a near-total abortion ban and New York not only protecting abortions up to 24 weeks for any reason – and up to birth in many circumstances – but also shielding abortionists from out-of-state prosecutions.
Pro-lifers have often warned that even when “properly” taken, abortion pills are not only lethal to preborn children but more dangerous to women than advertised. “As of December 31, 2018, there were reports of 24 deaths of women associated with Mifeprex since the product was approved in September 2000, including two cases of ectopic pregnancy resulting in death; and several cases of severe systemic infection (also called sepsis), including some that were fatal,” the FDA has warned, on top of 2,740 cases of severe complications from 2000 to 2012.
A recent peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute also concluded that “the rate of abortion-related emergency room visits following a chemical abortion increased over 500 percent from 2002 through 2015, according to an analysis of Medicaid claims data.” Additionally, the study also found that “the rate of abortion-related ER visits is growing faster for chemical abortions than (for) surgical abortions.”
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