Texas judge fines NY doctor $100K for prescribing abortion pills to Collin County woman

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas - A Collin County judge has fined a New York doctor $100,000 for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman last year.

What we know:

Collin County District Judge Bryan Gantt issued a default judgment against Dr. Maggie Carpenter after she was sued by the state for sending abortion pills to a 20-year-old Collin County woman.

Gantt ordered Carpenter to pay $100,000 and granted a permanent injunction against the doctor.

Gantt noted in his order that despite being notified, Carpenter failed to appear in court.

What they're saying:

"In Texas, we will always protect innocent life and uphold the laws that protect mothers and unborn babies," Attorney General Paxton said.

The backstory:

Paxton sued Carpenter in December 2024 after she prescribed the abortion-inducing drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to the woman in May 2024.

Court records state the woman took the medication when she was nine weeks pregnant. When she began experiencing severe bleeding, the lawsuit says, she asked the man who impregnated her to take her to the hospital. He had not been aware she was pregnant or seeking an abortion, according to the filing.

Mifepristone and misoprostol are approved for use through 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Texas’ abortion laws prohibit criminalizing or otherwise going after the person who undergoes the abortion.

Texas laws prohibit distribution of abortion-inducing drugs through delivery or mail. Another law prohibits doctors without a Texas medical license from treating patients through telemedicine.

Carpenter is the founder of Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, a national group that helps doctors in states with shield laws provide telemedicine consultations and abortion pills to patients in states that have banned abortions.

The group was founded after the overturn of Roe v. Wade by Carpenter, Dr. Linda Prine, and Julie Kay, a former ACLU lawyer who successfully argued the case that overturned Ireland’s abortion ban. They support doctors who want to become "shield providers" by advising them on licensure, data security, pharmacy contacts and legality.

New York "Shield Laws"

Gantt's ruling came on the same day that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused a request from Louisiana to extradite Carpenter for violating that state's abortion laws.

"We have sent out a law enforcement notice that certain out-of-state warrants are not enforceable in the state of New York," Hochul said. "So anyone who possibly pulls over an individual or is involved in a situation for a doctor who has, but who is protected under our laws is told you are not to cooperate and enforce this extradition."

The Associated Press reports that Carpenter was indicted by a grand jury last month on charges of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Carpenter is accused of prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

The case against Carpenter in Louisiana appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to another state.

Both the Texas and Louisiana cases will test New York’s so-called shield law, which gives legal protections to doctors who prescribe abortion medication to conservative states where abortions are banned or otherwise limited. Other Democratic-controlled states have similar "shield laws."

Constitutional lawyer David Coale said the law is supposed to restrict what New York authorities can do in cases like this.

"They argue it protects against both," Coale said. "It covers the full faith and credit issues. It also just directly instructs New York law enforcement and officials to not help Texas and Louisiana in proceedings like this."

Mail access to abortion pills

Big picture view:

Texas is also the epicenter of the battle to allow access to abortion pills.

Idaho, Missouri and Kansas are challenging the federal rules that grant access to the pills in federal court in the Northern District of Texas.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, in January, issued a ruling allowing the states to move ahead with their attempts to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone after the Supreme Court ruled an earlier version of the complaint filed by anti-abortion advocates lacked judicial standing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the drug's manufacturer, Danco Laboritories, argued the states lacked venue to bring the case to North Texas.

Kacsmaryk disagreed, however, and said the "venue remains disputed here and should be properly dealt with at a phase where each party may fully argue the issue."

The states case would require the drug be made available only through office visits. Currently, patients can gain access to abortion drugs through telehealth visits and online pharmacies.

The states' argument would require three in-person office visits before the drug could be prescribed. They also want to shorten the time the drug would be available, requiring it to be used during the first seven weeks of a pregnancy instead of the current limit of 10 weeks.

The original complaint was brought forward by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine in 2022 challenging the FDA's approval of mifepristone, the approval of its generic version and FDA rulings that changed how the drug can be used.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in March 2024 and issued its opinion that the anti-abortion groups lacked standing to sue the FDA and Danco in June with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing the opinion.

What is Mifepristone?

Mifepristone is a drug that blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue.

When used with misoprostol, it can be used to end a pregnancy during the first ten weeks.

It was originally approved by the FDA in 2000 for pregnancy terminations through the first seven weeks before it was extended to 10 weeks by the FDA in 2016.

Abortion LawsHealthCollin CountyKen PaxtonNew York