The showdown between New York and Louisiana over Carpenter is expected to result in a court case that could test New York's so-called shield law, which gives legal protections to doctors who prescribe abortion medication to conservative states where abortions are banned or otherwise limited.
New York on Thursday rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite a doctor who was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, setting up a potential test of laws that protect physicians who prescribe such medications to states with bans.
Prosecutors in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, indicted Carpenter on charges that she violated the state's near-total abortion ban, which allows physicians convicted of performing abortions, including one with pills, to be sentenced up to 15 years in prison.
Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she will not honor Louisiana's request to arrest and send the doctor to Louisiana after she was charged with violating the southern state's strict anti-abortion law.
The case against New York-based Dr. Maggie Carpenter appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to another state.
