A state grand jury in Louisiana has indicted a New York doctor for providing abortion pills to a Louisiana resident. The case appears to be the first time criminal charges have been filed against an abortion provider for sending pills into a state with an abortion ban.
The charges mark a new chapter in an escalating showdown between states that ban abortion and those that want to protect and expand access to it. It is challenging one of the foremost strategies used by states that support abortion rights: shield laws intended to provide legal protection to doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to states with bans.
The charges were brought against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who was operating under New York’s telemedicine abortion shield law, which stipulates that New York authorities will not cooperate with prosecutions or other legal actions filed against New York abortion providers by other states.