Ken Paxton Sues NY Abortionist For Unlawfully Mailing Abortion Drugs To Texas

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against a New York abortionist, accusing her of unlawfully mailing abortion drugs to a woman in Texas.

Those abortion drugs landed the mother in the emergency room after causing her to hemorrhage, the filing says — and they ended the life of her unborn child. Paxton is asking the court to fine the abortionist $100,000 for each violation of the law, including practicing without a license, and mailing abortion drugs.

“In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “This doctor prescribed abortion-inducing drugs—unauthorized, over telemedicine—causing her patient to end up in the hospital with serious complications.”

“In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents,” he added.

The lawsuit targets abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter, who is not a licensed Texas physician and is not authorized to practice telemedicine in Texas, where abortions of unborn babies are prohibited under almost all circumstances, except if the life or health of the mother is at risk. The law also prohibits physicians or medical suppliers from sending abortion drugs into the state.

“Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter (Carpenter) of New York violates Texas law by providing abortion-inducing drugs to Texans through telehealth,” the filing states. “Carpenter is not a licensed Texas physician, nor is she authorized to practice telemedicine in the State of Texas. The Court should enjoin Carpenter from continuing to operate outside the bounds of the law and impose civil penalties for her violation of Texas law.”

CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Carpenter is the co-medical director and founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT), an organization promoting abortion drugs. Her biography notes that she has been aborting babies both surgically and medically since 1999.

“About mid-May 2024, a 20-year-old female resident of Collin County, Texas became pregnant,” the filing states. “The mother of the unborn child did not communicate her pregnancy to the biological father of the unborn child. The mother did not have any life threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from the pregnancy that placed her at risk of death or any serious risk of substantial impairment.”

“The mother proceeded to utilize telemedicine or telehealth services and received, through Carpenter, two abortion-inducing drugs or prescriptions,” the complaint continues. “The first was a box for the drug mifepristone, 200 mg, followed by the ‘#1’ and the directions to take 1 tablet by mouth and to ‘take this medication first.’ The second was a pill bottle of misoprostol 200 mcg with directions to take 4 tablets (i.e., 800 mcg.) after the mifepristone.”

The FDA’s approved mifepristone doses are 200 mg of mifepristone by mouth, then 800 mcg taken in the cheek pouch 24 to 48 hours after that, and follow up with a health care provider about seven to 14 days later.

The mother asked her child’s father to take her to the hospital because of severe bleeding on July 16, 2024, the suit says. The father only learned that she had been pregnant at the hospital: “After the mother was seen by health care professionals at a hospital in Collin County, Texas, the biological father of the unborn child was told that the mother of the unborn child was experiencing a hemorrhage or severe bleeding as she ‘had been’ nine weeks pregnant before losing the child.”

He concluded that the child’s mother had purposefully hid her pregnancy from him, “and he further suspected that the biological mother had in fact done something to contribute to the miscarriage or abortion of the unborn child.” He discovered the abortion drugs when they returned home.

“Carpenter’s conduct violates the Texas Health and Safety Code’s prohibition on prescribing abortion-inducing drugs via telemedicine,” the complaint states. “Carpenter’s knowing and continuing violations of Texas law places women and unborn children in Texas at risk. Carpenter sees Texas patients via telehealth and prescribes them abortion inducing medication.”

New York previously passed legislation that is intended to provide legal protection for doctors to send abortion pills out of state. So this new lawsuit is the first attempt at challenging the state laws against one another.

SBSA Pro-Life America’s director of legal affairs, Katie Daniel, celebrated the lawsuit in a statement that condemned New York’s law, urging other pro-life leaders to follow Paxton’s example.

“For the mail-order abortion industry that sells high-risk drugs without any in-person doctor visit, life is cheap and ‘DIY’ abortion highly profitable,” she argued. “Thanks to extreme blue-state politicians who shield them, abortionists in states like New York openly violate the protective laws of pro-life states, killing unborn children and sending women to the emergency room in dire condition – all while sitting comfortably thousands of miles away.”