Texas
Texas Sues N.Y. Abortion Provider For Mailing Pills Into State
Topline
Texas filed a civil lawsuit Friday against a doctor in New York who mailed abortion pills to a Texas patient, threatening a key way patients in states with abortion bans have maintained abortion access and marking a new escalation in anti-abortion advocates’ legal fight as they reportedly ramp up their efforts in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
Pro-abortion rights protesters march outside the Texas State Capitol on Sept. 1, 2021 in Austin, TX. … [+]
Key Facts
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit in state court against New York physician Margaret Daley Carpenter, who co-founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.
The lawsuit alleges Carpenter violated state law by treating a Texas patient despite not being allowed to practice medicine in the state, as well as violating the state’s abortion ban that prohibits providing any abortion-inducing drugs.
The civil lawsuit asks for the court to bar Carpenter from treating any other patients in Texas, as well as force her to pay at least $10,000 in damages.
Carpenter is protected legally in New York, where the state passed a law shielding abortion providers who help patients in states with abortion bans—which won’t get her out of the Texas lawsuit, but does mean the state wouldn’t go after her medical license if she’s found liable in Texas or be obligated to cooperate with Texas authorities in any way.
New York’s law also allows her to file a lawsuit against Texas in order to recoup any costs associated with the state’s lawsuit, setting up the possibility of dual competing lawsuits over both states’ abortion laws.
This story is breaking and will be updated.