The lawsuit was filed in Collin County, Texas, by the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday and announced Friday. It appears to be the first challenge anywhere in the U.S. to a shield law that Democratic-controlled states have been adopting to protect exactly this kind of prescription.
Prescriptions like these, made online and over the phone, are attributed to being a key reason that the number of abortions has increased across the U.S. even since state bans started taking effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Lawsuits challenging the bans had been expected to start eventually.
The lawsuit asserts that New York Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter violated Texas law by providing the drugs to a Texas patient and seeks up to $250,000. No criminal charges are involved. The lawsuit states:
"The mother proceeded to utilize telemedicine or telehealth services and received, through Carpenter, two abortion-inducing drugs or prescriptions. The first was a box for the drug mifepristone, 200 mg, followed by the '#1' and the directions to take 1 tablet by mouth and to 'take this medication first.' The second was a pill bottle of misoprostol 200 mcg with directions to take 4 tablets (i.e., 800 mcg.) after the mifepristone."
Texas bars abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
Paxton (right) said that the woman who received the pills ended up in a hospital with "serious complications."
"In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents," Paxton said in a statement.
A phone message left for Carpenter was not immediately returned.
