A Texas state judge entered a default judgment and permanent injunction against New York doctor Margaret Carpenter on Thursday, finding her liable for unlawfully providing abortion-inducing drugs to a Texas woman.
Judge Bryan Gantt’s default judgment resulted from Carpenter’s failure to respond to the Texas civil suit against her. Judge Bryan Gantt granted Texas’s requested relief by ordering Carpenter to stop providing abortion pills to women in Texas, barring her from practicing medicine in Texas, and imposing a $100,000 fine against her.
Texas filed its complaint on December 12, 2024, alleging that the Texas woman became pregnant around mid-May 2024 and used “telemedicine or telehealth services” in order to receive, through Carpenter, the abortion-inducing drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol. The pregnant woman then went to the hospital on July 16, 2024, due to a hemorrhage or severe bleeding.
Mifepristone ends pregnancy development, and Misoprostol induces cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus. The drugs are usually taken for pregnancies that are up to 10 or 11 weeks of gestation.
Texas law prohibits knowingly inducing an abortion and only provides an exception to protect the pregnant person when she has “any life-threatening physical condition [caused by] the pregnancy that placed her at risk of death or any serious risk of substantial impairment.” Texas law also prohibits a person from practicing medicine in Texas, including providing a patient with abortion-inducing drugs, without a Texas license. Abortion-inducing drugs also cannot be sent by “courier, delivery, or mail service” nor be provided to women pregnant for over 49 days of gestation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a press release on Friday:
In Texas, we will always protect innocent life and uphold the laws that protect mothers and unborn babies. Radical out-of-state doctors will not be allowed to peddle dangerous and illegal drugs in Texas to kill unborn babies. Any doctor attempting to do so will be punished to the full extent of the law.
Carpenter is also facing criminal charges in Louisiana for allegedly sending mifepristone from New York to a Louisiana minor to induce the minor’s abortion. The offense is punishable by one to five years with the possibility of hard labor, but the imprisonment may increase to 15 to 50 years if the abortion causes death or serious bodily injury.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul rejected a Louisiana extradition request for Carpenter on Thursday. Using New York shield laws, she has justified her firm commitment to not turn Carpenter over to any state for any extradition request related to providing lawful reproductive services under New York law.
