Texas AG Sues New York Clerk for Refusing to Enforce Texas Abortion Judgment Against Telehealth Doctor

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Ulster County clerk for repeatedly refusing to file a summary judgement against a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a Texas patient via telehealth.

Paxton first sued Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New Paltz in civil court last year for allegedly violating the state’s abortion ban.

Texas prohibits nearly all abortions. But New York has refused to cooperate with Texas in accordance with its shield law, which protects abortion providers from out-of-state lawsuits. When Carpenter failed to respond to the suit, a Texas judge issued a permanent injunction and a more than $100,000 fine against her, but that still hasn’t been carried out.

Twice, Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck says he has received orders from Paxton to file the judgement against Carpenter in New York — but he won’t do it.

“Since everything that the doctor did was legal in New York state — she never left New York state — our interpretation of the shield law made it pretty clear that we were not to comply with [the Texas judgement],” Bruck explains. “Nothing has changed on our end. The law hasn’t changed, from our perspective. We are still not to comply with anything like this.”

Paxton, a Republican, is now seeking a “writ of mandamus” in New York to force Bruck to file the judgement. In a statement, he says Carpenter is a “radical abortionist who must face justice, not get legal protection from New York liberals intent on ending the lives of as many unborn children as they can.”

The case is considered the first major test of shield laws protecting abortion providers in the U.S. New York is one of eight states with such laws. Opponents say they are unconstitutional, and that states are required to respect the laws and rulings of other states.

Legal experts like Mary Ziegler, a law professor from UC Davis, says it’s possible the matter will make its way to the Supreme Court.

“It’s definitely something we’ve expected to see, this kind of inter-state conflict around abortion,” she notes. “This is a question about states’ rights, right? And when states have to listen to one another.”

The Texas case isn’t the only one Carpenter faces: she has been indicted on criminal charges in Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills there. New York has refused to extradite Carpenter in that case.

Carpenter has largely refused to comment on the lawsuits, but the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, which Carpenter cofounded, has stressed in its statements that the two-pill regimen for medicated abortions is “an essential part of women’s healthcare” that has been “prove safe and effective globally for decades.”

Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul blasted Paxton’s lawsuit in a statement, calling it “pathetic” and “dangerous.” New York has amped up its laws protecting abortion providers in recent months, allowing doctors to now list their practice instead of their names on prescription labels.

As for Bruck, he says he’s not sure what to expect going forward. He says county and state lawyers are likely to get involved, especially if the case is appealed, and he’s retaining an attorney for himself.

“It’s a bit of a whirlwind. Today, a little frustrating. Ken Paxton’s press release talked about how ‘radical liberals’ in New York are trying to kill as many babies as possible,” says Bruck. “I now have a daughter who’s three months old, and that’s extremely offensive to me — that they would frame the decision that we made as trying to intentionally kill children, it’s just completely absurd. We’re trying to protect doctors, that’s what we’re doing.”

Story by Jesse King/WAMC/New York Public Network

Jesse King is the host of WAMC’s national program on women’s issues, “51%,” and the station’s bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast “A New York Minute In History.”

Image: Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck. (Credit: Tony Adamis/Kingston Wire)