Louisiana and Texas coordinated strike back against New Paltz physician

Exactly one week after New Paltz Town Supervisor Amanda Gotto and the town board passed a resolution supporting Dr. Margaret Carpenter for providing abortion health care to women in Louisiana and Texas, the states struck back. Supervisor Gotto vows to continue to protect Dr. Carpenter.

On Thursday, February 13, judge Bryan Gantt of Texas permanently enjoined Dr. Carpenter from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents. On the same day in a coordinated fashion, Louisiana’s governor, Jeff Landry, signed a warrant seeking to extradite Dr. Carpenter to his state to stand trial.

“I vow to employ every legal protection available to Dr. Margaret Carpenter,” stated Supervisor Gotto in a press release. “New Paltz has a long and proud history of defending civil rights. From being the first town to marry same-sex couples in 2004 through to our 2021 anti-racism statement denouncing any form of racism as a threat to the safety, health and well-being of the public. And just last week, our town board resolved to support Dr. Carpenter and the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine in exercising their lawful rights under the New York State Shield Law.”

Last night a New York Times article reported that a Texas judge ordered the New York doctor to stop prescribing and sending abortion pills to patients in Texas and to pay a penalty of more than $100,000 for providing the medication to one woman, a fee that is intentionally designed to destroy a small business.

The case is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court and become a pivotal test in the escalating battle between states that ban abortion and states that support abortion rights. It essentially pits Texas, which has a near-total abortion ban, against New York, which has a “telemedicine abortion shield law” intended to protect abortion providers who send medications to patients in other states.

“Louisiana and Texas can try to distract from the discriminatory reality of their lack of health care by performatively targeting New York State’s Shield Law,” stated Supervisor Gotto. “We stand with the governor and Dr. Carpenter. The town board and citizenry are committed to uphold our laws to the fullest extent possible to protect her.”