A Texas judge has ordered a New York doctor to immediately stop prescribing and mailing abortion pills to patients in Texas, setting up a challenge to state “shield laws” that could reach the US supreme court.
Such laws could end up before the supreme court if Texas files a petition in New York state court to collect the financial penalty it ordered Carpenter to pay.
On Thursday, New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said the state would not cooperate with an extradition request for Carpenter, filed by Louisiana officials in a separate case.
Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who signed the warrant for Carpenter to appear in court there, posted about the case on social media on Thursday: “There is only one right answer in this situation: the doctor must face extradition to Louisiana where justice will be served.”.
Alongside a $100,000 fine and about $13,000 in attorneys’ fees and court costs, the New York judge also ordered Carpenter to immediately cease prescribing and mailing abortion pills.
