Texas Sues New York Doctor for Sending Abortion Pills Across State Lines in First-of-its-Kind Lawsuit

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Texas is suing a New York doctor for allegedly sending abortion pills to a woman in the state, which resulted in the death of an unborn child and serious complications for the mother, state Attorney General Ken Paxton announced.

The lawsuit accuses Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, a New York doctor and founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, of illegally supplying abortion drugs to a Collin County woman, in violation of the state’s prohibition against  mailing abortion pills and prescribing drugs through telehealth without holding a valid Texas medical license. 

“In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient,” Paxton said in a statement. “This doctor prescribed abortion-inducing drugs—unauthorized, over telemedicine—causing her patient to end up in the hospital with serious complications. In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents.”

The lawsuit will be the first to test a battle between a pro-life state that restricts abortion pills and a pro-abortion state (New York) that passed a law legally shielding doctors who send abortion drugs into states that restrict abortions, according to the The Texas Tribune. 

The complaint alleges that in May 2024, a 20-year-old woman became pregnant but did not tell the father of the unborn baby. She had a healthy pregnancy but ultimately decided she wanted an abortion, so she allegedly ordered abortion pills online through Carpenter, the complaint states.

On July 16, she asked the father of the baby to take her to the hospital for “hemorrhage and severe bleeding,” the complaint continues. While at the hospital, the father of the child was notified that the woman had been nine weeks pregnant before ultimately losing the child, the complaint states.

“The biological father of the unborn child, upon learning this information, concluded that the biological mother of the unborn child had intentionally withheld information from him regarding her pregnancy, and he further suspected that the biological mother had in fact done something to contribute to the miscarriage or abortion of the unborn child,” the lawsuit alleges. “The biological father, upon returning to the residence in Collin County, discovered the [abortion drugs] from Carpenter.”

Paxton is asking the court to block Carpenter for violating Texas law and impose civil penalties of no less than $100,000 for each violation.

“Unless Carpenter is restrained by this Court, with relief that is enforceable by a contempt order, Carpenter will continue to defiantly violate Texas Law,” the complaint argues. “Carpenter’s continued violation of our Texas statutes as stated herein is probable and imminent.”

Carpenter’s organization was founded after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the issue of abortion back to individual states and their elected representatives. The groups supports doctors “who want to become ‘shield providers,’ by advising them on licensure, data, security, pharmacy contacts, and legality,” the Tribune reported. 

Carpenter also works with AidAccess, an international abortion drug provider that sends abortion pills throughout the United States. Carpenter did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.

Report: At Least 40,000 Women in States with Abortion Limits Obtained Abortion Pills via Telehealth Last Year

Leading pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America celebrated the lawsuit in a statement via email and said they hope it will “embolden other pro-life leaders and begin the undoing of the mail-order abortion drug racket.”

“For the mail-order abortion industry that sells high-risk drugs without any in-person doctor visit, life is cheap and ‘DIY’ abortion highly profitable. Thanks to extreme blue-state politicians who shield them, abortionists in states like New York openly violate the protective laws of pro-life states, killing unborn children and sending women to the emergency room in dire condition – all while sitting comfortably thousands of miles away,” SBA Pro-Life America Director of Legal Affairs Katie Daniel. “We thank Attorney General Ken Paxton for leading the charge to hold out-of-state abortion businesses accountable for preying on Texas’ unborn children and their mothers.”

Medication abortions notably accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, up from 53 percent in 2020, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

In a medication abortion, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.

The case is Texas v. Carpenter, No. 471-8943-2024 in the District Court of Collin County, Texas.