Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor for allegedly prescribing abortion drugs to a resident in Texas, where nearly all abortions are banned.
It marks the first time that conflicting state abortion laws will be tested since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
In New York, doctors are protected by a shield law which prevents prosecutions from other states. Laws in Texas also prevent a person from practicing medicine in the state without holding a medical license within the state.
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Nevertheless, Paxton has vowed to pursue the lawsuit, which he filed last week against Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New York, regardless of the state's shield protections.
Carpenter is the founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, a national group helping doctors in states with shield laws to provide telemedicine consultations and abortion pills to patients in states that have bans.
One situation outlined in the lawsuit alleges that Carpenter prescribed mifepristone, a hormonal drug that can end an early-stage pregnancy, and misoprostol, a medication used to prevent stomach ulcers, to a 20-year-old patient in Collin County, Texas in May.
The court documents stated the pregnant woman took the abortion-inducing medication without telling the biological father of her fetus.
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In July, the woman reportedly suffered severe bleeding and the man she was previously pregnant with took her to the hospital. He learned she had been previously pregnant and somehow concluded she intentionally did not tell him and "did something" to terminate the pregnancy.
The lawsuit stated the man then "discovered" the medications prescribed by Carpenter in their home after returning from the hospital.
Paxton is asking the court to stop Carpenter from prescribing medications in the state of Texas and the pay $100,000 for every alleged violation of the state's abortion ban.
