Dr. Maggie Carpenter of New York was fined in Texas and charged in Louisiana for providing abortion pills to patients in both states, where the procedure is all but banned.
Louisiana officials are seeking Carpenter’s extradition to stand trial. But a New York shield law protects in-state telemedicine abortion providers from out-of-state prosecutions over abortion pills they prescribe from New York.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has pledged to uphold that law, ordering law enforcement in her state to ignore the extradition order.
The case—along with the Texas lawsuit—raises novel legal questions about how states can enforce their abortion laws against out-of-state violators and the ramifications of shield laws on interstate relations.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erik Baptist attributes the rise of such laws to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to allow mail delivery of abortion pills.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal regulations required patients to see an abortion provider in person to obtain the two drugs in the medication abortion regimen, mifepristone and misoprostol. The FDA revised that rule in 2021 to allow the pills to be delivered by mail.
Both Texas and Louisiana have outlawed abortion in most cases, with exceptions for the mother’s health.
The Lone Star State did not level criminal charges against Carpenter, opting to sue her instead, but both cases raise the same questions about how their final judgments can be enforced.
“Will that provider pay those penalties?” Baptist asked. “Or when they try to serve and obtain those penalties out-of-state, such as in the state of New York, what will that provider do and how will they defend it?”
University of California Davis School of Law Professor Mary Ziegler said the answers to those questions may not be black and white—particularly in the Louisiana case.
“There’s more gray area, traditionally, with extradition,” Ziegler told The Epoch Times.
Ziegler said the U.S. Constitution’s Interstate Extradition Clause appears to apply to those who commit a crime in one state and then flee to another to avoid prosecution. That could complicate things for Louisiana, she noted, as Carpenter “never set foot” in the state.
Ziegler said the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause could also be relevant if Carpenter appeals against the Texas ruling. The clause, typically applied to civil matters, requires that states give “full faith and credit” to other states’ “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings.”
While President Donald Trump holds that abortion is a states’ rights issue, Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said interstate clashes over shield laws could push the matter back onto the federal stage.
Baptist said such fights could also damage the ties that bind the nation together.
“By undermining your neighboring states or across the country, it is defeating how our country has been set up historically.”
—Samantha Flom, Sam Dorman
BOOKMARKS
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has halted a multi-million dollar government contract to develop a new COVID-19 vaccine. The contract was paused just three days before a planned 10,000-person clinical trial.
Elon Musk is planning to send a second wave of “test” emails to federal workers, just to check if the employees will respond. “What we are trying to get to the bottom of is, we think there are a number of people on the payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond ... and some people who are not real people ... fictional individuals that are collecting paychecks,” Musk said.
The GOP is repealing previous actions by former President Joe Biden through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The rule allows Congress to undo any regulation issued within the past 60 days.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is predicting egg prices could jump as much as 41 percent this year. The cost hike is being driven by mass culling in response to an ongoing outbreak of avian flu that has cut into the population of egg-laying hens.
Donald Trump announced that he will impose another 10 percent in tariffs on China, bringing the total to 20 percent. Trump said the tariffs are set to kick in on Mar. 4, and will be targeted at Canada and Mexico too, unless they address the crisis of illegal drugs pouring into the United States through their borders.
—Stacy Robinson
