New York Governor Kathy Hochul refused on Thursday to extradite an abortionist accused of illegally mailing an abortion pill to a Louisiana mother who allegedly pressured her minor daughter into ending the life of her unborn child.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed an extradition warrant this week for New York abortionist Margaret Carpenter after she was indicted on charges of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. Hochul said that she would not sign Louisiana’s order of extradition, citing the state’s abortion “shield” laws.
“This office received an order of extradition for a New York doctor, an abortion provider who lives upstate. In the state of New York, at my direction, we have put in place strict shield laws that anticipated this very situation,” Hochul said. “We knew … we had providers who could be vulnerable. Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York.”
“Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers. And I will uphold not only our constitution, but the laws of our land,” she said.
Carpenter is accused of mailing abortion drugs to a woman in Louisiana who then pressured her underage daughter into taking them and ending the life of her unborn child.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill shot back at Hochul, saying that she was covering up for a “drug dealer.”
“This child was NOT this doctor’s patient. She never met her, saw her, or knew anything about her. The child is a victim. [Hochul] is protecting a drug dealer who victimized a child,” Murrill posted on X.
Landry said that the minor was “excited” to have the baby and was planning a gender reveal party before her mother intervened.
“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,” Landry said as he signed the extradition order. “This pill ended up ending her pregnancy and that baby’s life.”
Carpenter was also sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who secured a $100,000 penalty and permanent injunction against her on Friday. He sued Carpenter for allegedly sending abortion pills into Texas in violation of state law.
“In Texas, we will always protect innocent life and uphold the laws that protect mothers and unborn babies,” Paxton said Friday. “Radical out-of-state doctors will not be allowed to peddle dangerous and illegal drugs in Texas to kill unborn babies. Any doctor attempting to do so will be punished to the full extent of the law.”
