New York governor Kathy Hochul rejected a request to extradite a doctor who was accused of prescribing abortive pills online to a Louisian resident last month.
“I will not sign an extradition order that comes from the governor of Louisiana, or now, or ever,” Hochul said at a press conference on Thursday after his office received the order for the abortions provider, Dr. Margaret Carpenter.
NBC News obtained a copy of the extradition order, which Louisiana governor Jeff Landry signed on Tuesday.
“There is only one correct answer in this situation, and it is that this doctor must face the extradition to Louisiana, where it can be judged and will be given justice,” Landry said in a video statement on Thursday.
A grand jury in West Baton Rouge Parish District Court accused Carpenter last month with his company, Nightingale Medical, and Louisiana’s mother who ordered the pills online for her son, a minor pregnant. The three were accused of criminal abortion through abortion inducing drugs, a serious crime.
Carpenter did not immediately respond to a comment request on Thursday.
The case is the first known criminal accusation of a doctor accused of sending abortion pills through state lines after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The accusation could also be the first direct evidence of the laws of the New York shield, which are intended to protect suppliers who prescribe and send abortion medications to the states where abortion is prohibited.
West Baton Rouge district prosecutor, Tony Clayton, told NBC News that “if the same happens again, I will prosecute again.” I hope this will have a chilling effect on [Dr. Carpenter] And any other person to stop sending the pills to my state. “
After Dobbs’s decision annuls Roe v. Wade in 2022, the prohibition of almost total abortion of Louisiana, which does not allow violation or incest exceptions, entered into force. If they are sentenced to perform illegal abortions, even with medications, doctors face up to 15 years in prison, $ 200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical licenses.
“Louisiana has changed its laws, but that is not related to the laws here in the state of New York. Doctors practice an oath to protect their patients. I made an oath to protect all New Yorkers, and I will maintain not only our Constitution, but also the laws of our land, ”said Hochul.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued Carpenter in December claiming that he sent abortive pills to that state; However, that case did not include criminal charges.
After Carpenter was accused, Hochul signed another legislation that allowed abortion suppliers to use the names of their practices instead of their own names on prescription labels.
