New York doctor hit with massive fine for prescribing abortion pills to Texas patient

New York, New York - A New York doctor was reportedly fined $100,000 on Thursday by a Texas judge for remotely prescribing abortion pills to a patient in the Southern state where abortion is all but illegal.

A Texas judge fined Dr. Maggie Carpenter of New York $100,000 just for remotely prescribing abortion pills to a patient.
A Texas judge fined Dr. Maggie Carpenter of New York $100,000 just for remotely prescribing abortion pills to a patient.  © Collage: Patrick T. FALLON / AFP & REUTERS

Maggie Carpenter was accused in December of violating Texas state laws by prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine to a 20-year-old woman near Dallas.

Carpenter, founder of the Coalition for Telemedicine Abortion, was ordered to "cease prescribing abortion-inducing medications to Texas residents" or risk further financial penalties or even imprisonment, according to the New York Times.

The move risks creating a judicial standoff with the state of New York, which has brought in laws to shield doctors in such cases.

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Texas' Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, said the 20-year-old woman who received the pills ended up in a hospital with complications and pointed out that Carpenter was not licensed to practice in Texas.

He claimed that the pills had "ended the life of an unborn child and caused severe complications for the mother, who had to undergo medical intervention," the report said.

His counterpart in New York, Letitia James, responded by saying that "in the face of other states' attacks on those who provide or obtain abortions, New York is proud to be a sanctuary."

She went on to assure practitioners that the state would defend them "against unjust attempts to punish them for doing their job."

States pursue doctors for providing reproductive care

Texas has some of the most draconian laws restricting abortion following the 2022 overturn of the longstanding Roe v. Wade ruling by the US Supreme Court, which turned the issue over to the states. At least three women have died, due to denied or delayed medical care related to pregnancies.

In January, Carpenter was indicted for "criminal abortion" by the state of Louisiana after being accused of supplying abortion drugs to a minor there.

Nearly one in three US women between the ages of 18 and 44 lives in a state that has banned or severely restricted abortion, according to Politifact.

But 18 states, including New York, have passed laws protecting doctors from prosecution elsewhere in the country.

Cover photo: Collage: Patrick T. FALLON / AFP & REUTERS

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