Baton Rouge, La
Great jurors in the district court of the parish of West Baton Rouge issued an accusation against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; Your company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and a third person. The three were accused of criminal abortion through abortion inducing drugs, a serious crime.
The case seems to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the United States Supreme Court revoked Roe V. Wade in 2022 and opened the door to states that had strict laws against abortion.
Carpenter was also sued by Texas Attorney General in December under similar accusations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges.
Carpenter did not immediately return a message.
The accusation occurs only a few months after Louisiana became the first state with a law to reclassify both the mining and misoprostol and “controlled hazardous substances.” Drugs are still allowed, but medical staff has to go through additional steps to access them.
According to the legislation, if someone knows mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid recipe for any purpose, it could receive a fine of up to $ 5,000 and sent to jail for one or five years. The law causes protections for pregnant women who obtain the medication without a recipe to assume their own.
From the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had an almost total abortion prohibition, without any exception of rape or incest. According to the law, doctors convicted of carrying out 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.
“Do not be mistaken, since Roe V Wade was revoked, we have witnessed a disturbing interference pattern with women’s rights,” said the coalition of Telemedicina Aborte, where Carpenter is one of the founders. “It is no secret that the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortions, and this effort sponsored by the State to process a doctor who provides safe and effective care must alarm everyone.”
Friday’s accusation could be the first direct evidence of New York shield laws, which are destined to protect prescribers who use Telesalud to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is prohibited.
“We always knew that Roe V. Wade was not the end of the road for anti -abortion politicians. That is why I worked with the legislature to approve leading laws in the Nation to protect suppliers and patients, ”said New York Governor Kathy Hochul in a prepared statement.
The attorney general Letitia James, who would enforce the law of the shield, did not immediately respond to comments requests.
The pills have become the most common environment in the United States, which represents almost two thirds of them by 2023. They are also at the center of political and legal actions on abortion. In January, a judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals on how one of the drugs that generally involved can be prescribed.
