Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced Friday he is suing a New York doctor for allegedly prescribing abortion drugs to a Collin County woman, in violation of state law.
The suit alleges that Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter prescribed a 20-year-old unnamed woman, who had become pregnant in mid-May, mifepristone and misoprostol. The two-day medication course can be used to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks into the gestation period.
Carpenter works with several abortion access groups that use telemedicine to provide women with abortion care, and the suit alleges the woman used telehealth to procure the prescriptions.
The filing also alleges the woman did not have any health conditions that would have placed her at risk of death or serious impairment had she gone through with the pregnancy.
On July 16, the woman asked the fetus’ biological father to take her to the hospital, as she experiencing severe bleeding, according to the suit. They were then informed the hemorrhage was due to the woman being nine weeks pregnant before losing the fetus.
It then says that the biological father suspected the woman had “intentionally withheld information from him regarding her pregnancy” and contributed to its end. When he returned home, he found the abortion medications.
Paxton’s suit alleges that Carpenter “sees Texas patients via telehealth and prescribes them abortion-inducing medication,” and her “knowing and continuing violations of Texas law places women and unborn children in Texas at risk.”
The physician’s actions violate Texas’ near-total abortion ban, one of the strictest in the country, and Carpenter is not licensed to practice medicine in Texas, the AG’s office states.
It seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against Carpenter as well as a $100,000 fine and legal expenses.
In Texas, out-of-state practitioners can procure a special license to treat Texans via telehealth. There were no results for a “Margaret Carpenter” in the Texas Medical Board’s search portal.
The suit cites the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine website, which shows Carpenter as a founder and co-medical director. The website says Carpenter is involved with Hey Jane and Aid Access, two telehealth organizations that provide abortion care.
“Ken Paxton is prioritizing his anti-abortion agenda over the health and well-being of women by attempting to shut down telemedicine abortion nationwide. By threatening access to safe and effective reproductive health care, he is putting women directly in harm’s way,” the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine said in a statement.
Hey Jane’s website does not include Texas among states it serves, and Aid Access’ terms of service states patients “are responsible for understanding any legal restrictions to access abortion services where you live. Members of the Aid Access Team or consultants will not be liable for any legal consequences you face as a result of using the Services provided by this website.”
Hey Jane and Aid Access did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Paxton’s office has been involved in several high-profile abortion-related suits, including petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to block Kate Cox from receiving a lower court-sanctioned abortion in 2023 after receiving a fatal fetal diagnosis. The court sided with Paxton.
This story has been updated to include a response from the advocacy group founded by Carpenter.
