Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition Monday to compel a county clerk in New York to abide by a court-ordered summary judgment and fine against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas.
Paxton filed a petition seeking a writ of mandamus, which would compel Ulster County Acting Clerk Taylor Bruck to file the Texas judgment in New York state court. Because New York is one of eight states that have a telehealth shield law protecting abortion providers from out-of-state litigation or prosecutions, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, the judgment against Carpenter is not enforceable in New York unless the county clerk files it.
Bruck has twice denied Paxton's request to enforce the fine. It is illegal in Texas to mail or receive abortion pills through the mail, and the state bans all abortions except when the mother faces a "life-threatening condition." Medicated abortions accounted for 63% of all abortions in 2023, according to Guttmacher.
In December 2024, Paxton sued Dr. Margaret Carpenter for sending abortion-inducing mifepristone and misoprostol to a 20-year-old woman from Collin County, which resulted in an abortion and serious medical complications for the mother. In February, Collin County State District Judge Bryan Gantt ordered Carpenter to pay a $113,000 fine.
"Dr. 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," Paxton said Monday in a statement. "No matter where they reside, pro-abortion extremists who send drugs designed to kill the unborn in Texas will face the full force of our state's pro-life laws."
In a statement issued Monday shortly after 1 p.m. ET, Bruck confirmed that he is facing legal action in his official capacity as acting county clerk for "upholding New York state's shield Law," the Times Union of Albany, New York, reported.
"While pending litigation limits what I can share, I want to make clear that it is an honor to serve Ulster County in this role, and I am especially grateful to do so at such a critical moment for our county, our state, and the protection of fundamental rights under New York law," Bruck said.
New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Monday that her response to Paxton's efforts to enforce the fine was, "hell no."
"These extremists are determined to punish a New York doctor for providing safe, legal abortion care," Hochul said. "It's pathetic. It's dangerous. And it won't happen on our watch. They picked the wrong state and the wrong governor — and I'll never stop fighting to protect women's reproductive freedom."
Carpenter, who practices in New Paltz, New York, and is founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, also is facing charges in Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor. Hochul rejected any talk of extraditing Carpenter to Louisiana.
"I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over," she said.
Hochul signed New York's shield law in June 2023, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ended the federal right to an abortion, according to the Times Union. At the time, Hochul said New York was "continuing to fight back against restrictive abortion laws and help more people access the care they need."
Earlier this year, Hochul signed another law that allows New York doctors to prescribe abortion medication out of state anonymously.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.