NY clerk refuses to file Texas judgment against doctor in abortion pill case

A county clerk in New York is refusing to file a $113,000 judgment from Texas against a New York City doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to women in a state that bans abortion pills

The decision could lead to a major legal challenge over conflicting state abortion laws

Last month, a Texas judge ordered Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices in New York, to pay the penalty for allegedly violating Texas law

by prescribing abortion medication through telemedicine. But on Thursday, the acting Ulster County clerk, Taylor Brooke

refused to file the Texas judgment, citing New York Shield Law, which protects medical professionals from out-of-state legal actions related to abortion services

Brooke released a statement saying, in accordance with the New York State Shield Law

I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office

Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton criticized the refusal, saying New York is shredding the Constitution to hide lawbreakers from justice, and it must end

I will not stop my efforts to enforce Texas pro-life laws that protect our unborn children and mothers

However the county clerk has the support of New York governor Kathy Hokel and New York Attorney General Lettisha James who both released statements in support of blocking the Texas

filing on the basis of their state's shield law. New York is one of eight states with telemedicine shield laws, and Texas isn't the first state

to go head to head with New York over their differences in abortion laws

Earlier this year, New York Governor Kathy Hockel also invoked the state's shield law

involving this same doctor. The governor rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite Dr. Carpenter

In the state of New York, at my direction, we have put in place strict shield laws that anticipate this very situation

And I will not be signing an expedition order that came from the governor of Louisiana

Not now, not ever. Louisiana's governor reacted on X, saying, so you're telling me Governor Kathy Hockel is protecting criminals over victims

Louisiana had charged Dr. Carpenter with illegally prescribing and providing the abortion pill Mithipristone to a pregnant minor, once again via telemedicine

Given the Texas Attorney General's statement following the clerk's refusal to file the judgment, this legal battle between states over conflicting abortion law is ongoing

Thanks for watching. For more stories that matter to you, download the SAIN mobile app today