Hochul won’t sign extradition warrant for NYS doctor who prescribed abortion meds

ALBANY — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has signed an extradition warrant for the arrest of a New York State doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a Louisiana resident — a warrant that Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday she will not sign.

The physician, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, was charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony in Louisiana. She had been operating under New York state shield law, enacted in 2023, which protects New York-based doctors who serve patients in restrictive states through telehealth.

Hochul at a news conference Thursday afternoon said she will not sign the extradition warrant, “not now, not ever.”

The governor also said a notice was sent out to all law enforcement in the state telling them not to cooperate or enforce the extradition, or certain out-of-state warrants that are not enforceable in New York.

New York’s shield law and Louisiana’s abortion ban were put in place following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned previous case law, concluding that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion

Hochul earlier this month approved a law aimed at providing further protections for providers by allowing them to request that only the name of their practice be printed on prescription abortion medication labels instead of their personal name. The law, which took effect immediately looks to shield physicians from being prosecuted in other states that have limited abortion access.

Carpenter was identified because her name was found on the prescription label.

Carpenter is also facing legal action in Texas where a civil lawsuit was filed in December by the state Attorney General’s Office. A Texas judge on Thursday ordered Carpenter to stop prescribing and sending abortion pills to patients in the state and to pay a fine of more than $100,000 for providing the medical to one woman, according to the New York Times.