Louisiana’s attorney general is investigating a second case involving New York doctor Margaret Carpenter after she allegedly prescribed and mailed abortion medication to another woman in the state, this time located in the city of Shreveport.
The Shreveport woman was 20 weeks pregnant when she took the abortion medication and subsequently went into labor, Attorney General Liz Murrill said during a testimony for an anti-abortion bill in the state’s House Civil Law and Procedure Committee on Monday.
“She and her boyfriend, after she gave birth, took the baby, wrapped it in a towel, and threw it in a garbage can,” she said.
The couple went to the hospital and were told to retrieve the baby, which the boyfriend did, Murrill said, adding that local law enforcement is also investigating the incident.
Medication abortions typically involve consuming a combination of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol and are recommended up until 10 weeks of pregnancy. Afterwards, health care providers recommend that those wishing to terminate a pregnancy undergo a surgical abortion.
Murrill did not say why she believes it was Carpenter who mailed the abortion medication to the woman in Shreveport. Murrill’s office did not immediately respond to questions from The Hill nor did Carpenter.
A Louisiana grand jury indicted Carpenter in January for violating a state law after she allegedly prescribed abortion medication to a woman in the state who then gave it to her teenage daughter.
State law enforcement issued an arrest warrant for Carpenter, and she was charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion inducing drugs. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued an extradition request for Carpenter, who co-founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued Carpenter last year for allegedly prescribing and mailing abortion pills to a woman in the state.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul rejected Landry’s extradition request, vowing to protect the doctor and never sign an extradition request from the state.
New York is one of about eight blue states that after the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade have enacted an abortion “shield law” to protect abortion providers regardless of the location of their patients.
The newly introduced bill in Louisiana would make it easier for the state to punish abortion providers who send medication in the mail.
House Bill 575 would allow Louisianans to sue any person or entity that “causes or substantially facilitates an abortion.” Under the bill, people can sue even if the attempted medication abortion does not end the pregnancy.
“It is another mechanism, it is another tool in the toolbox for people who are harmed by somebody who is intent on violating our laws,” said Murrill.
“We’re not going to stop trying to extradite her and prosecute her for the crimes that she’s committing in our state,” she added, referring to Carpenter.
Hochul doubled down Tuesday on her commitment to protect Carpenter against further cases from Louisiana.
“Anti-choice zealots can file as many cases as they want. In New York, we protect our providers,” the governor posted to the social media platform X.
“Let me be clear: we will never comply with Louisiana’s extradition request. Not now, not ever.”
