A Louisiana mother and a New York doctor have been indicted for allegedly providing abortion medication to a minor, in what’s believed to be the first case of its kind in the country seeking to criminalize the provision of abortion medication obtained through the mail.
A West Baton Rouge grand jury handed down the indictments Friday for Dr. Margaret Carpenter and Nightingale Medical, and the minor’s mother. Both are charged with knowingly causing an abortion “by means of delivering, dispensing, distributing, or providing” a pregnant woman with an “abortion-inducting drug.” The charge carries penalties of up to five years in prison and $50,000 in fines.
WWNO/WRKF is not naming the mother to protect the minor’s identity. Clayton said he won’t pursue charges against the minor, which is in line with Louisiana’s anti-abortion laws. Laws criminalizing the provision of abortion in the state, and a new law that reclassifies two medications that can induce abortions, mifepristone and misoprostol, specifically exempt pregnant women.
The case is a significant escalation in the legal landscape of criminalizing abortion. It’s the first charge against a Louisiana resident under the state’s abortion ban, which took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. And it’s among the first challenges to laws passed in some blue states intended to protect abortion providers who provide pills to women in states with bans.
Farah Diaz-Tello, the senior counsel and legal director for If/When/How Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, said it was the first indictment of such a provider to her knowledge.
“I'm not aware of any other cases where a state is trying to indict a provider in another state,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill praised the indictment on X. “It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State (sic) and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion,” Murrill wrote. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.”
In an interview with Talk Louisiana on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Tony Clayton said he sought the indictments and will prosecute the case. He said Carpenter mailed the pills to the mother, who gave the medication to the girl.
“The minor child was home alone, felt that she had to take the pill because of what her mother told her,” Clayton said.
He also suggested the minor, by virtue of being under the age of 18, was incapable of knowingly deciding to have an abortion.
“That child, to me, who took the pill, is a child, and I don't think she can formulate the requisite intent to really know what was going on,” he said.
The minor had planned a reveal party, Clayton told The Advocate.
Anti-abortion group praises indictments
Louisiana Right to Life celebrated the indictment in a statement, criticizing the New York physician for mailing abortion pills.
“Carpenter is not licensed to practice medicine in the state of Louisiana,” said communications director Sarah Zagorski. “Louisiana Right to Life applauds DA Clayton for taking initiative to protect Louisiana women and babies from the devastating effects of coerced abortion and the abortion industry.”
The Louisiana Abortion Fund called the indictments an effort by “forced birth extremists” to undermine telemedicine abortions and cause “a chilling effect” among providers willing to mail abortion pills to states with bans. Two other leading statewide reproductive rights groups, Lift Louisiana and Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, did not immediately release statements on Friday.
Diaz-Tello, with If/When/How, said the indictments and Louisiana’s laws against telemedicine abortion are intended “to make people fear criminal penalties for helping others access abortion care.”
She said people afraid of being criminalized for using or obtaining abortion medications should know there is help out there for them.
Anti-abortion groups have ramped up attacks on abortion medication, which has dramatically blunted the impact of state abortion bans in recent years. One survey last year found that thousands of women are still getting abortions in Louisiana. It showed more patients accessed abortion in Louisiana in 2023 than in 2020, before the ban took effect, and in the first six months of 2024, 60% of abortions in the state were via telemedicine.
In the Talk Louisiana interview, Clayton described abortion medications — which can be used for a wide range of routine and life-saving pregnancy care — as “poison.” He said he still plans to seek a warrant for Carpenter, even though New York laws protect physicians who mail abortion medication to states where abortions are illegal.
“You can't hide behind the borders of New York and ship pills down here to commit abortions in Louisiana,” he said.
Shield laws challenged
The case will test laws passed in a series of Democratic-led states, that shield health care providers and others who help out-of-state abortion patients from civil and criminal consequences. At least 18 states have such laws on the books, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
New York state officials have defended the state’s shield law. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state will not comply with any extradition request.
“We will remain a safe harbor,” she posted on X.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement in support of Carpenter and in defense of telemedicine abortion.
“This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American,” James said. “We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it.”
Carpenter is already facing a lawsuit in Texas for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas. She was listed as the co-medical director and founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT), which works to promote access to abortion medication across the U.S. and stands behind shield laws, according to a statement.
“The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country,” ACT said, adding that mifepristone and misoprostol have been proven safe and effect for inducing abortions for decades and are “an essential part of women’s healthcare.”
Shield laws facilitated 9,700 abortions a month across the U.S. last year, according to data collected by the Society of Family Planning.
“It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone,” ACT said.
