A major jury in Louisiana accused a doctor in New York of providing birth control pills to a Louisiana resident. The case seems to be the first time that criminal charges have been brought against the abortion provider to send birth control pills to a state with a ban on miscarriage.
The accusations are distinguished by a new chapter in the face of an escalation between countries that prohibit abortion and those that want to protect and expand access to it. It is difficult to be one of the first strategies used by countries that support abortion rights: Shield laws aim to provide legal protection for doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to countries with a ban.
Accusation was brought against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who was operating under the Distinctive Mid District Shield Law, which states that the New York authorities will not cooperate with prosecutions or other legal procedures submitted against abortion provides in New York.
Remote abortion Shield laws,, Which was adopted by eight states so far, has become an important way to provide access to abortion for women in countries that have a ban without asking them to leave their mandate. Doctors, nurses, nurses, and other healthcare providers in states with shield laws send more than 10,000 miscarriages per month to states with a prohibition of miscarriage or restrictions.
Legal experts said that the case provokes legal wars on abortion and it will certainly end in the Federal Court and perhaps the Supreme Court. It is expected to become a major test if countries can apply criminal laws to people who act outside their borders.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision for 2022 in the dobbs v. Jackson, the Women’s Health Organization in Jackson has overturned the national right to abortion. The United States has been divided between countries that restrict abortion and countries that protect abortion.
“There was a feeling that if you were in a blue state, you are protected from the consequences of Dobbs,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor of law and an abortion expert at the University of California. “Judicial prosecutions like this undermine this assumption, and we do not know exactly how, or how much, but you cannot take it as a Muslim in it.”
She said that the federal courts must be classified “where the line will be drawn and even before the courts are ready to arrive.” “It is not clear what will happen.”
The indictment of Louisiana, by a major jury in West Patton Rouge, follows what he believes is the first The civil lawsuit was filed against the abortion provider in the state of the Shield Law. This case was filed in December by the Texas Public Prosecutor, Ken Pakston, also against Dr. Carpenter, to describe it and send birth control pills to a woman in Texas.
“I don’t know in light of the theory in which the doctor can think that you should ship your pills to Louisiana to thwart our children,” said the provincial lawyer, who oversees West Patton Rouge.
He added: “The birth control pills may be legal in New York. It is not legal in Louisiana.”
In response to the charges, state governor Cathy Hochol said from New York In a video posted on X“I will never transfer this doctor, under any circumstances, to Louisiana, under any delivery request.” I pledged to “do everything I can to protect this doctor and allow her to continue the work she is doing, and this is very necessary.”
the Using miscarriage medications It has grown significantly in recent years. Pharmaceutical abortion now represents nearly two -thirds of pregnancy fines in the United States. This method is usually used within 12 weeks of pregnancy and includes two drugs – which prevents pregnancy from growth, follows a day or two by mezoprostol, which causes similar contractions of miscarriage.
In 2021, Food and Drug Administration Raise a base that requires patients to obtain mifePristone personallyAllow the medication to be sent by mail.
The ability to send medications, which are strengthened by the laws of the shield, has made it difficult for countries that have a ban to prevent their residents from reaching abortion. The procedures against Dr. Carpenter in Texas and Louisiana are part of a campaign to reduce this arrival.
Abortion opponents also press the Trump administration to revive a 151 -year -old federal law to combat a federal law. COMSTOCK Law And use it to try to prevent abortion pills.
In the Louisiana case, the Greater All -jury accused Dr. Carpenter and her medical practice of “criminal abortion through drugs that stimulate abortion.”
Dr. Carpenter did not comment, from New York, New York, on the case on Friday, and the efforts made to reach the lawyers they represent.
The court documents, which include a few details, indicate that the case included a girl under 18 years of age, whose mother requested abortion pills and gave her her in April 2024. The mother was also accused of violating the abortion ban in the state.
Mr. Clayton, the lawyer for West Patton Rouge, said that the authorities were familiar with the case after a police officer responded to the 911 call by the teenager.
“The officer believed at the time that he was dealing with a child who was suffering from miscarriage,” said Mr. Clayton. He said that after the teenager police moved to the hospital, the authorities learned that they had taken abortion medications and that the investigation had become a criminal.
“The evidence will show that the child has planned the disclosure party” and does not want to abort. He said that the charges will not be lifted against the girl.
Police records indicate that the mother, whose name is for the New York Times, does not reveal the protection of her daughter’s identity, was arrested and released on Bond. Attempts to reach them did not succeed on Friday.
“The allegations in this case have nothing to do with reproductive health care,” said Liz Morel, the state prosecutor. This is about coercion. This relates to forcing someone to perform an abortion that does not want one. “
“The cowardly attempt by Louisiana to attach the law against service providers outside the state is unfair and non -American,” Lyuric Prosecutor, Litia James, said in a statement.
She added: “Abortion of medicines is safe, effective and necessary, and New York will ensure that they remain available to all Americans who need them.”
Dr. Carpenter specializes in reproductive health and co -founder of The abortion coalition from remote medicineAnd it is an organization that calls for a distance abortion in all fifty states.
The coalition said in a statement on Friday. Effective care should be alerted everyone. “
Activists anti -abortion praised Louisiana charges.
“This issue reveals how abortion drugs via mail feed the coerced epidemic, a new form of domestic violence against mothers and their children,” Katie Daniel, Director of Legal Affairs at SBA Pro-Life America. The statement praised Louisiana to tighten the laws against abortion drugs and said: “In the blue states, politicians supporting abortion carry out the opposite country, and protect abortion.”
In the Texas suit, Dr. Carptter was accused of providing abortion pills for a 20 -year -old woman in July. The lawsuit said that the woman later asked “the biological father of her child who has not yet been born” her transfer to the emergency room because of “severe bleeding”, and she learned at that time that she was pregnant in the nine weeks.
Mr. Buckston said that by filing the Texas suit, he was seeking to prevent the court from Dr. Carbnter from continuing to provide medicines for abortion for patients in Texas, and applying Texas’s ban on abortion on it. The ban carries a penalty of at least $ 100,000 per violation.
Kirsten Nuiz The research contributed.
