New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will reject the extradition request by Louisiana for a New York doctor charged with illegally providing abortion drugs to a mother who gave them to her minor daughter who reportedly wanted to have the baby.
Hochul’s declaration follows a grand jury in West Baton Rouge Parish’s indictment on Jan. 31 of Margaret Carpenter and her company, Nightingale Medical, PC. The jury also indicted the Louisiana mother, and the three parties were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, which is a felony.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the extradition warrant on Feb. 11 for Carpenter at the request of the state’s Attorney General Liz Murrill and District Attorney Tony Clayton.
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New York, where Carpenter lives, has a shield law that is intended to prevent prosecution of abortionists who provide abortion drugs to clients in other states. In a Thursday statement, Hochul declared that Louisiana’s laws have “no bearing on the laws here in the State of New York.”
“I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers, and I will uphold not only our constitution, but also the laws of our land,” Hochul declared. “And I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the Governor of Louisiana: Not now, not ever.”
“And to establish that this is known across the State, we have sent out a law enforcement notice that certain out-of-state warrants are not enforceable in the State of New York,” the Democratic governor continued.
“So anyone who possibly pulls over an individual or is involved in a situation for a doctor who is protected under our laws is told, ‘You are not to cooperate and enforce this extradition.’ So I want to be clear that we have taken all the steps we can to protect this doctor.”
The case appears to be the first instance of a provider facing charges for sending abortion drugs to another state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
As WAFB-TV reported last month, a mother in Louisiana requested abortion drugs online from Carpenter for her daughter, whose age and name have not been disclosed to protect the minor’s identity.
Mifepristone, the first drug in the chemical abortion regimen, was sent to Louisiana, even though the state has outlawed most abortions. According to prosecutors, the drug ended the life of the girl’s unborn child, and the girl went to the hospital due to a medical emergency.
“The young child was told by the mother that she had to take the pill or else. The child took the pill was home alone … felt something happening to her body and began hemorrhaging, and the baby began to come out,” Clayton said.
While it is unknown how far along the girl was in her pregnancy, the district attorney emphasized that Carpenter’s actions violated Louisiana’s laws.
“Shipping an abortion pill from another state is equivalent to me of shipping fentanyl or any other type drug over here that ends up in the mouths and stomachs of our minor kids,” Clayton added.
The district attorney said in an interview last month with The Advocate that it seems the pregnant girl did not want to have an abortion and that she even had a gender reveal party planned.
In a Jan. 31 statement about the case, Sarah Zagorski, the communications director for Louisiana Right to Life, declared that the advocacy group is “deeply grieved by the harm Dr. Carpenter’s actions caused in this young girl’s life and the death of her unborn baby.”
“The New York based physician, Dr. Carpenter either did not know, or did not care, that the pills she was prescribing would be utilized to harm a minor and then end the life of her unborn baby against her will,” Zagorski continued.
“As common in the online abortion industry, it is reported that Dr. Carpenter required no medical examination or even an interview with the young pregnant woman before prescribing the drugs,” the pro-life advocate added. “The physician should be held accountable for her reckless disregard of her purported patient’s safety. Furthermore, Dr. Carpenter is not licensed to practice medicine in the state of Louisiana.”
“Louisiana Right to Life applauds DA Clayton for taking initiative to protect Louisiana women and babies from the devastating effects of coerced abortion and the abortion industry.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
