A Major Loophole In The Texas Abortion Ban May Have Surfaced

If it's a hot topic button you're looking for, look no further than the abortion law in Texas. It's caused outrage within the state, and outside of it.

Because each states laws are different from one another, they're able to make their own rules regarding how they approach abortion, and whether it's legal or not.

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NEW YORK SHIELD LAW

New York has one of the more interesting laws around it. It's called the "New York shield law", and it's exactly what you think it is.

If there is an out-of-state investigation into something regarding reproductive health care, it bars any public entity from cooperating with the investigation.

It also protects any witnesses from being subpoenaed or getting a summons to appear in a case, and it also protects from extradition of the lawsuit itself to another state.

TEXAS SUES NEW YORK DOCTOR

So why is this something we care about right now? Well, that's because Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a suit in New York against an out-of-state abortion pill provider, and now the New York shield law will be put to the test.

The lawsuit stems from a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, which just happens to be Paxton's backyard, receiving the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Both of those drugs are used when performing an abortion as well as helping clear miscarriages.

Paxton claims that Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, who is licensed in New York to practice medicine and also helped co-found Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine Access, is the one who prescribed the drugs for the Texas woman.

HOW DID PAXTON FIND OUT

According to the complaint, in mid-July, the 20-year-old woman approached the biological father saying she needed to be taken to the hospital because she began to hemorrhage. It was at the hospital that he found out the pregnancy had been terminated.

The father went to the woman's residence and found the empty pill boxes there. What we don't know is if the couple lived together and if it was the biological father that reported it.

THE LAWSUIT

In the lawsuit, Paxton wants $250,000 in damages for violating the states laws regarding abortion, and is also alleging other laws were broken.

One of those other laws is that a doctor prescribing any medication via telemedicine be licensed in Texas, in which Carpenter was not.

Paxton stated in a news release, “In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient.” He went on to say, "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."

THE RESPONSE FROM NEW YORK

New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded to the lawsuit with unwavering support for the shield law as well as access to abortions. In regards to the shield law in place, she stated it "protects doctors and patients from draconian rules that put women’s lives at risk."

She would go on to further state, "Abortion is health care, and New York will always be a safe harbor for those who need it — no matter what politicians in Texas try to do," and admonished Paxton and the state for their laws.

WHAT'S NEXT

Many expect the case to be moved to federal court because there are so many unknowns, and this is the first case brought against any state regarding abortion and mailing medicine or pills between states.

Mary Ziegler, a professor at University of California at Davis School of Law and a noted expert on reproductive health law, says the truce is over in regards to interstate abortion fights.

She believes that targeting the doctors that mail pills into states that have tough abortion laws is the best way to shoot down the shield law, but also cautions that it's not a "silver bullet" by any stretch.