Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition on Monday against an acting New York county clerk for shielding a telehealth doctor, effectively pitting Texas' pro-life laws against New York's pro-abortion shield laws.
The Texas court ruled that Dr. Margaret Carpenter violated state law by providing abortion-inducing drugs to a Texas resident. Her actions resulted in the killing of an unborn child and serious medical complications for the mother. She was ordered to pay a $100,000-plus penalty.
However, Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck from eastern New York refused to enforce the ruling against Carpenter, who never appeared in court.
“In accordance with the New York State Shield Law, I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office," said Acting Clerk Taylor Bruck in a statement. "Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation."
In response to the clerk's refusal, Attorney General Paxton petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus, which would ensure the decision of the court is enforced against Carpenter.
“Dr. Carpenter is a radical abortionist who must face justice, not get legal protection from New York liberals intent on ending the lives of as many unborn children as they can,” said Attorney General Paxton. “No matter where they reside, pro-abortion extremists who send drugs designed to kill the unborn into Texas will face the full force of our state’s pro-life laws.”
Earlier this year in February, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry requested that Carpenter be extradited to his state after she was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor. Governor Hochul invoked New York's shield law and rejected Landry's request.
New York is one of eight states with telemedicine shield laws, which allow healthcare providers to distribute abortion pills through the mail without an in-person consultation and across state lines. The state passed a law in 2023 shielding healthcare providers from litigation when they provide "gender affirming and reproductive care" as well.
“The Shield Law broadly prohibits law enforcement and other state officials from cooperating with investigations into reproductive or gender-affirming health care ('protected health care') so long as the care was lawfully provided in New York,” said New York Attorney General’s Office in a statement.
In Carpenter's case, the Texas court determined that she is “not a resident of the State of Texas, but is a resident of the State of New York that has done business in Texas." The court has not yet responded to the Attorney General's petition.
“It’s going to get us answers about the Shield Law and Shield Laws nationwide,” said Bruck in a phone call with The Hill. “There’s a lot of unknowns in this whole process right now. I’m mostly curious as to how it will all shake out.”
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