After NY Doctor’s Indictment, Gov. Signs Law That Protects the Identity of Abortion Pill Prescribers

On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed New York’s status as a safe haven for reproductive health care, following the indictment of New York Dr. Margaret Carpenter by a Louisiana grand jury for prescribing an abortion pill online to a minor in the southern state. 

Joined by dozens of female lawmakers, Gov. Hochul signed the bill S.36-a / A.2145-a, permitting prescription labels for mifepristone, misoprostol, and their generic alternatives to include the name of the prescribing health care practice, rather than the name of the prescriber, at the prescriber’s request. 

This bill provides additional protection for doctors based in New York, building on the shield law enacted in 2023, designed to provide extensive protection of New York State doctors providing services via telehealth to those in restricted states. 

Hochul stated “We’re also requiring that notice be given to the patient that alternative labeling will be used. Other states, they want to target, harass, scare, intimidate doctors and patients. Now that may be okay in a place like Louisiana, maybe Indiana, but those are not our values here in the State of New York. No.”

Alongside Gov. Hochul, bill sponsors Senator Shelley Mayer and Assemblymember Karines Reyes stated their commitment to reproductive rights while discussing the “urgency and priority this issue takes for us as legislators, New Yorkers, and women,” according to Mayer. 

While speaking at the bill signing, Reyes said “We are committed unequivocally to our state,” demonstrating the willingness of the state legislators to fight for and protect reproductive rights. 

Medication abortion has become a primary resource for those seeking abortions across the nation. They account for 63 percent of non-hospital abortions in the United States, as of 2023, not including abortions within total ban states or mail-in medication. 

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, 17 states have taken steps to limit access to abortion services. Thirteen states imposed a total ban, while another four states prohibit abortions after six weeks, a time when pregnancy is difficult to detect for many individuals. More than half of women between the ages of eighteen and forty-nine live in states with abortion restrictions. 

Sen. Michelle Hinchey said “The fears that many of us had, have now become a reality,” in relation to reproductive healthcare and the changing dynamics within the United States. 

Hochul pledged to protect doctors in New York that provide health care to patients out-of-state through this bill. Regarding Dr. Margaret Carpenter, the governor said “This doctor simply responded to a cry for help, and in return now faces a felony charge that subjects an individual to a prison term of up to five years, and fines as high as $50,000. Think about that. Five years in prison simply because you upheld your oath and delivered medical care.” 

She went on to discuss her plan to neglect the request to extradite the doctor to face criminal charges, saying “Never, under any circumstances, will I sign an extradition agreement that sends our doctor into harm’s way to be prosecuted as a criminal for simply following her oath.”

The indictment of Dr. Carpenter is the first case in the U.S. of criminal charges against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to an out-of-state patient since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Furthermore, the indictment has the potential to be the first direct test of New York’s shield laws, which are expected to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide medication abortion to patients in states where abortions are banned. 

Gov. Hochul stated in regard to New York-based doctors, “We must be there to support them. We must be their allies. We must be their army to protect them.” 

Reyes agreed.

“In New York we say we believe in science, we believe in facts, we trust our clinical providers, and we will protect them every step of the way.”