BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted on Friday by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.
Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor's mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.
In addition to Carpenter, an arrest warrant was issued for the mother, who has not been publicly identified to protect the identity of the minor. District Attorney Tony Clayton told The Associated Press that the mother turned herself in to police on Friday.
The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.
“We expect Dr. Carpenter to come to Louisiana and answer to these charges, and if 12 people (a jury) think she's innocent then, let it go," Clayton said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a video posted on social media, “I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition requests,” signaling a potential legal battle between the states.
Last year, the Port Allen, Louisiana, woman requested abortion medication online from Carpenter for her daughter, whose age has not been specified. Clayton said the request was made through a questionnaire only and no consultation with the girl.
A “cocktail of pills” was mailed to the woman who directed her daughter to take the pill, Clayton said.
After taking the drug, the girl experienced a medical emergency while alone, called 911 and was transported to the hospital where she was treated. While responding to the emergency, a police officer learned about the pills and under further investigation found that a doctor in New York state had supplied the drugs and turned their findings over to Clayton's office.
It is unclear how far along the girl was in her pregnancy.
“The (adult) mother has since been arrested, but the other person we believe is just as culpable here is the person who sat in an office, wrapped a box of pills, put a stamp on the box and mailed it to the state of Louisiana for a child to take,” Clayton said.
Carpenter was sued in December by the Texas attorney general under similar allegations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges.
Carpenter did not immediately return a message from the AP.
The indictment comes just months after Louisiana became the first state with a law reclassifying both mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances.” The drugs are still allowed, but medical personnel must take extra steps to access them.
Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses either medication without a valid prescription, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.
“I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.
Abortion opponents and reproductive rights groups alike flooded social media scrutinizing the indictment.
“We cannot continue to allow forced birth extremists to interfere with our ability to access necessary healthcare, Chasity Wilson, executive director of the Louisiana Abortion Fund, said in a statement. “Extremists hope this case will cause a chilling effect, further tying the hands of doctors who took an oath to care for their patients.”
Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.
“Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights,” the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. “It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”
Friday’s indictment could be the first direct test of New York’s shield laws, which are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned. New York Attorney General Letitia James said “we will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”
“This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American,” James added.
Pills have become the most common means of abortion in the U.S., accounting for nearly two-thirds of them by 2023. They’re also at the center of political and legal action over abortion. In January, a judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals for how one of the drugs usually involved can be prescribed.
This story has been corrected to show that the surname in the third paragraph should be Carpenter, not Carter.
Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press reporter Michael Hill in Albany, New York, also contributed.
FILE - Mifepristone tablets are seen in a Planned Parenthood clinic Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
