New York doctors prescribing abortion pills to out-of-state patients will no longer be forced to include their names on prescriptions under a law signed Monday by Gov. Hochul.
The law comes in immediate response to criminal charges in Louisiana against a New Paltz doctor, Margaret Carpenter, who prescribed pills for a minor patient in the Southern state.
“Reproductive freedom will always be protected in the State of New York — and I’ll never back down from this fight,” Hochul said Monday.
New York had already passed a law back in 2023 shielding abortion providers from criminal charges in other states. The law emboldens New York doctors to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol online to patients in states with abortion bans.
But Louisiana investigators were still able to track where the minor patient received pills based on the doctor’s name on the prescription bottle, Hochul said Monday. The new law was designed to prevent such a situation in the future by allowing practitioners to request only the name of their health care practice on the label.
Hochul also said she’d deny any extradition request from Louisiana — “There’s no way in hell” — possibly setting up a showdown in federal court over the conflicting laws.
Louisiana has a near-total abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest and a 15-year maximum prison sentence for violating the law.
According to state investigators, the minor patient in the case was rushed to a hospital after taking pills prescribed by Carpenter. The details of her pregnancy and her identity have not been revealed.
In addition to Carpenter and her health practice, Nightingale Medical, PC in New Paltz, the patient’s mother was also charged in the case. The woman turned herself in to police on Friday, Louisiana authorities said.