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Left: New York State Governor, Kathy Hochul speaks on stage during The 2022 Concordia Annual Summit – Day 2 at Sheraton New York on September 20, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Concordia Summit). Right: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill during an April 5, 2024, interview with KLFY (YouTube).
Louisiana’s top law enforcement officials announced that they are seeking the extradition of a New York doctor for prescribing and mailing abortion pills to the mother of a pregnant minor in the Pelican State, where the procedure is prohibited in nearly all circumstances.
Dr. Margaret D. Carpenter and her practice, Nightingale Medical, were named in a grand jury indictment filed in January by West Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Tony Clayton, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime. Carpenter is based in New Paltz, located some 80 miles north of New York City.
Carpenter, the one-page indictment says, “on or about April 5, 2024, did knowingly cause an abortion to occur by means of delivering, dispensing, distributing, or providing a pregnant [woman] with an abortion-inducing drug,” the one-page indictment says. Doing so was “[c]ontrary to the law of the State of Louisiana and against the peace and dignity of the same,” the indictment adds.
The minor’s mother, whose name has not been released to protect the identity of the child, has also been indicted on felony charges in connection to the event.
While all states typically enforce extradition agreements, it does not appear that will be the case when states with abortion bans enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade find themselves facing of against states that do allow the procedure.
Earlier this month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a shield a law designed to protect against out out-of-state indictments and prosecutions for doctors prescribing abortion medications. She also appeared on CNN last week where she said there was “no way in hell” she would allow Carpenter to be turned over to authorities in Louisiana
Despite Hochul’s insistence, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Tuesday put out a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying she had signed an extradition form for Carpenter, adding, “We will take any and all legal actions to enforce the criminal laws of this State!”
Murrill had previously taken aim at Hochul regarding her aforementioned appearance on CNN, during which the governor conceded that if Carpenter were arrested in another anti-abortion state, that state would be able to extradite her to Louisiana, saying Carpenter would have to “be careful about her travel plans.”
“Dr. Carpenter needs to be careful with her travel plans,” Murrill wrote in a Facebook post that included a clip from Hochul’s television appearance.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday also got into the mix, posting a video to Facebook on Thursday confirming that he’d signed the extradition form and warrant for Carpenter’s arrest.
“A minor in Louisiana got pregnant. This minor was excited to have a baby and was planning a gender reveal party,” Landry said in a statement and video posted to Facebook. “Her mom conspired with a New York doctor to get a chemical abortion pill in the mail and then forced that minor to take it. This minor ended up in the hospital. This pill ended up ending her pregnancy and that baby’s life. There is only one right answer in this situation and it’s that that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana where justice will be served. We owe this to the minor and the innocent life lost.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James has previously castigated Louisiana’s attempt to prosecute the doctor, pledging to take the same stand as Hochul.
“The criminalization of abortion care is a direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom,” she said in a Jan. 31, statement. “This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American.”
