BATON ROUGE, La. — A New York physician was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion capsule on-line within the Deep South state, which has one of many strictest near-total abortion bans within the nation.
Grand jurors on the District Court docket for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment towards Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her firm, Nightingale Medical, PC; and a 3rd individual. All three have been charged with legal abortion by way of abortion-inducing medication, a felony.
The case seems to be the primary occasion of legal costs towards a physician accused of sending abortion capsules to a different state, not less than for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion legal guidelines.
Carpenter was additionally sued by the Texas lawyer common in December below related allegations of sending capsules to that state. That case didn’t contain legal costs.
Carpenter didn’t instantly return a message.
The indictment comes simply months after Louisiana grew to become the primary state with a legislation to reclassify each mifepristone and misoprostol as “managed harmful substances.” The medication are nonetheless allowed, however medical personnel should undergo further steps to entry them.
Beneath the laws, if somebody knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol with out a legitimate prescription for any goal, they might be fined as much as $5,000 and despatched to jail for one to 5 years. The legislation carves out protections for pregnant ladies who acquire the drug with out a prescription to tackle their very own.
“I’ve stated it earlier than and I’ll say it once more: We are going to maintain people accountable for breaking the legislation,” Louisiana Lawyer Normal Liz Murrill, a Republican, stated in an announcement on Friday.
Because the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, with none exceptions for rape or incest. Beneath the legislation, physicians convicted of performing an unlawful abortion, together with one with capsules, resist 15 years in jail, $200,000 in fines and the lack of their medical license.
“Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, we have witnessed a disturbing sample of interference with ladies’s rights,” the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, the place Carpenter is likely one of the founders, stated in an announcement. “It is no secret america has a historical past of violence and harassment towards abortion suppliers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a physician offering protected and efficient care ought to alarm everybody.”
Friday’s indictment might be the primary direct take a look at of New York’s protect legal guidelines, that are meant to guard prescribers who use telehealth to offer abortion capsules to sufferers in states the place abortion is banned.
“We all the time knew that overturning Roe v. Wade wasn’t the tip of the highway for anti-abortion politicians. That is why I labored with the Legislature to go nation-leading legal guidelines to guard suppliers and sufferers,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated in a ready launch.
Lawyer Normal Letitia James, who would implement the protect legislation, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Drugs have turn out to be the most typical technique of abortion within the U.S., accounting for practically two-thirds of them by 2023. They’re additionally on the middle of political and authorized motion over abortion. In January, one choose let three states proceed to problem federal authorities approvals for a way one of many medication normally concerned may be prescribed.
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Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Related Press reporter Michael Hill in Albany, New York, additionally contributed.
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