USA – Inside the legal fight over the telehealth clinics that help women defy abortion bans

Every month, thousands of women evade abortion bans in their home states by turning to telehealth clinics willing to send them pregnancy-ending drugs through the mail

By MICHAEL HILL and SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
June 12, 2025

Every month, thousands of women thwart abortion bans in their home states by turning to telehealth clinics willing to prescribe pregnancy-ending drugs online and ship them anywhere in the country.

Whether this is legal, though, is a matter of debate. Two legal cases involving a New York doctor could wind up testing the shield laws some states have passed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/inside-legal-fight-telehealth-clinics-women-defy-abortion-122763768

Volunteers rush to send abortion pills to US women in need as ‘war between the states’ looms

Massachusetts abortion project pushes for access across country as controversial shield laws are put to legal test
Carter Sherman
Sat 26 Apr 2025
Each of the volunteers – five women and one man – have a unique role in the assembly line. One volunteer drops slim, orange boxes of mifepristone, the first drug typically used in a medication abortion, into the envelopes, while another volunteer adds green-capped bottles of the second drug, misoprostol. A few volunteers add brochures on topics such as how to use abortion pills or what to do if a woman suspects she has an ectopic pregnancy. Finally, one volunteer drops small purple cards into each envelope. They all bear the same handwritten message: “We wish you the best.” The cards are signed with a swooping heart and a nondescript name: “the Map”, or the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/26/abortion-clinic-pills-shield-laws

USA – Where the Conservative War on Abortion Pills Is Headed

By Andrea González-Ramírez, the Cut
March 12, 2025

In his nearly two months in office, President Donald Trump has only made small moves to advance his anti-abortion agenda. But his Justice Department’s decisions to enforce a law that protects abortion clinics from violence only in “extraordinary” cases and to stop defending a Biden-era lawsuit against Idaho that sought to protect access to emergency abortion care in hospitals send a clear signal: The federal government will not defend what curtailed abortion rights remain post-Dobbs. Now, Republican lawmakers emboldened by that message are going after their most urgent target: abortion pills.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/article/republicans-unleash-new-attacks-on-abortion-pills.html

Louisiana mother pleads not guilty following abortion pill indictment

By: Lorena O'Neil
March 11, 2025

A mother from Port Allen caught up in a landmark abortion pills case pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony criminal charges for allegedly providing her minor daughter with medication to end her pregnancy.

The woman was indicted Jan. 31 for allegedly giving her teen daughter pills she had obtained through the mail. Dr. Margaret Carpenter, the New York physician who allegedly prescribed and sent the pills to Louisiana, was also indicted on felony changes. It’s the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Continued: https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/11/abortion-pill-10/

USA – Shield Laws Are the Fault Line in the Battle Over Abortion Access

New York’s shield law was designed to protect providers mailing medication abortion pills out of state. But a New York provider is facing legal action in Louisiana and Texas.

Rachel Rebouché
February 20, 2025

Can a doctor who lives in and practices medicine in the state of New York be fined by a Texas court for violating Texas’s abortion ban and licensure law, or be indicted on criminal charges under Louisiana’s abortion law for prescribing and mailing abortion pills to patients who are residents of those states?

Dr. Margaret Carpenter is facing a lawsuit from the state of Texas and an indictment from a Louisiana grand jury for prescribing and shipping medication abortion to people in those states. Last Thursday, Louisiana’s governor signed an order to extradite, demanding that New York force Carpenter to travel to Louisiana to stand trial. New York Governor Kathy Hochul forcefully rejected the demand, stating: “I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana — not now, not ever.” Around the same time, a Texas state court entered a default judgement against Carpenter, finding her in violation of Texas’s abortion ban and liable for over $100,000 in fines and attorney fees.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/shield-laws-fault-line-abortion-access/

20.02.2025

Commentary

abortion pills

abortion trafficking laws

Dr. Margaret Carpenter

Kathy Hochul

mifepristone and misoprostol

The doctor indicted by Louisiana for prescribing abortion pills saved my life

Margaret Carpenter’s devotion to her patients should be celebrated, not criminalized

By Maya Gottfried
Feb. 14, 2025

Margaret Carpenter, based in New Paltz, New York, has been indicted for prescribing abortion pills to a person in Louisiana — where nearly all abortions are illegal, even in cases of rape or incest. It isn’t the only legal threat she faces: In December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Carpenter for sending abortion pills to someone in the state. On Thursday, a judge fined her more than $100,000 and ordered her to stop prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to Texas patients.

I know Carpenter as “Dr. Maggie.” She has been a hero of mine for a long time, but not just for standing up for people’s rights to reproductive health. When I was 35, she helped save my life.

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/margaret-carpenter-abortion-pills-louisiana-new-york-shield-law/

14.02.2025

abortion pills

Dr. Maggie

Dr. Margaret Carpenter

Ket Paxton

Maya Gottfried

prosecuting doctors for abortion

shield laws

telemedicine abortion

Arrest warrant issued for New York doctor indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pill

By SARA CLINE and GEOFF MULVIHILL
January 31, 2025

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted on Friday by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor’s mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-indictment-lousiana-new-york-doctor-63ff4d9da8a9b592a7ca4ec7ba538cd3