New York governor refuses to extradite doctor accused of mailing abortion pills

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite a doctor from her state accused of prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to a woman in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Both were indicted on felony charges last month for allegedly violating a Louisiana law prohibiting the sale, prescription, delivery, dispensing and distribution of abortion-inducing medication.

According to Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, the West Baton Rouge woman forced her pregnant minor daughter to take the pills, though the woman hasn’t been charged with the crime of coerced abortion.

Landry signed an extradition request Wednesday from Murrill, who said she intends to personally prosecute Dr. Margaret Carpenter and the West Baton Rouge woman, who is not being identified to protect her daughter’s identity.

At a Thursday afternoon news conference in Manhattan, Hochul, a Democrat, referenced New York’s shield laws that protect reproductive health care providers from criminal prosecution in other states. Louisiana banned abortion almost entirely in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. The procedure remains legal in New York.

“Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” Hochul said. “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 also the laws of our land. And I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana. Not now, not ever.”

Landry criticized his New York counterpart after a video of Hochul’s announcement was posted to the social media platform X.

“So you’re telling me @GovKathyHochul is protecting criminals over victims?!” Landry wrote. “And they wonder why people and businesses are fleeing the state.”

U.S. Census Bureau estimates show more than 19.8 million people in the state of New York as of midyear 2024, down from 20.2 million in the 2020 count. Total employer establishments, the census term for businesses, actually increased in New York over the same period – from roughly 535,000 to more than 540,000.

Murrill also responded to Hochul’s video on X.

“This child was NOT this doctor’s patient,” Murril wrote. “She never met her, saw her, or knew anything about her. The child is a victim. @GovKathyHochul is protecting a drug dealer who victimized a child.”

The teen’s mother, who bonded out of jail after her Jan. 31 arrest, has never been charged with dealing drugs, based on a review of her court records.

Murrill has implied other Republican-led states would be willing to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana, saying previously the doctor should “be careful with her travel plans,”

“If New York won’t cooperate, there are other states that will,” the attorney general said.

Landry posted a video earlier Thursday explaining his reasons for seeking Carpenter’s extradition. The governor said the West Baton Rouge woman “conspired with a New York doctor” to order abortion pills in the mail and then “forced” her daughter to take them.

Tony Clayton, the Democratic district attorney for West Baton Rouge Parish, will prosecute the case alongside Murrill. He said the girl took the pills at home alone and called 911 to be taken to the hospital when she started bleeding.

“There’s only one right answer in this situation,” Landry said in the video. “It is that that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana, where she can stand trial and justice will be served.”