A North Texas judge ordered a New York doctor on Thursday to pay a fine of about $100,000 and court costs for prescribing a Collin County woman abortion pills to end her pregnancy.
The doctor, Margaret Daley Carpenter, did not show up in court, so a default judgment was ordered by 471st Judicial District Court Judge Bryan Gantt.
Texas has an abortion ban with very few exceptions, not including rape or incest. The question is whether Texas has the legal right to go after providers in states with shield laws, like New York.
"So now the question is going to be, can Texas enforce this judgment or will New York, which is almost certainly going to say we're not going to enforce this judgment be able to prevail," University of California law professor Mary Ziegler, who has written six books about abortion law, said. "That's a question that's going to be settled in the federal courts."
The federal court, she said, likely means the Supreme Court.
There are laws in states where abortion is legal to protect doctors from this sort of prosecution, but attorneys general in states like Texas want to apply their laws to those outside of their states.
Texas laws don't authorize the punishment of women who get an abortion, but those who help them can be prosecuted. That includes doctors. It is also a crime to aid and abet a woman seeking an abortion.
The complaint was filed by the man who got the woman in this case pregnant. The Collin County woman was 20 when she got pregnant and did not tell him. Last July, after taking the pills she had the man take her to the hospital for severe bleeding. She was nine weeks pregnant. The man then realized she had not told him she was pregnant and, according to court documents “ended up finding out that she had been pregnant” and that “he then started to suspect that maybe she had not been truthful about it.”
The complaint was filed by Texas Right to Life. Ziegler said the group is recruiting men.
"The people who do know are the people who are in people's intimate lives will turn in the information," she said. "Texas Right to Life is well aware that the people who are most likely to know are the people with whom people are having abortions are the most intimate. Which is where this strategy comes from."
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) has signed an extradition order for the same doctor for prescribing abortion drugs to a minor. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said her state will not cooperate.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Tell your Smart Speaker to "PLAY 1080 KRLD"
Sign Up to receive our KRLD Insider Newsletter for more news
Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube