BATON ROUGE, La. – A Louisiana girl pleads not responsible Tuesday to a felony, after allegedly getting abortion capsules from a New York physician and giving them to her teenage daughter to terminate a being pregnant.
The girl’s arraignment is a part of a cross-state authorized battle that includes what will be the first occasion of prison expenses in opposition to a physician accused of sending abortion capsules to a different state, placing Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban in stress with New York’s protect legal guidelines.
In January, a West Baton Rouge grand jury unanimously issued an indictment in opposition to the 39-year-old Louisiana girl for prison abortion by way of abortion-inducing medication, which is a felony. The girl has not been publicly recognized by The Related Press to guard the id of the minor.
The indictment in Louisiana got here months after the state grew to become the primary to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol — a two-drug regimen that can be utilized to finish pregnancies by means of the tenth week — as “managed harmful substances.”
The American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there’s many years of proof that mifepristone and misoprostol are safe and effective.
Tablets have change into the most typical methodology of abortion within the U.S. and are on the center of political and legal fights over abortion entry following the overturning of Roe. Such prescriptions, made on-line and over the cellphone, are a key motive that the number of abortions has increased throughout the U.S. since state bans began taking impact.
In line with District Legal professional Tony Clayton, final 12 months the girl requested abortion medicine on-line from New York-based Dr. Margaret Carpenter, for her daughter. Clayton stated the request was made by means of a questionnaire solely and no session with the teenager.
A “cocktail of capsules” was mailed to the girl who directed her daughter to take them, Clayton stated.
After taking the drug, the lady skilled a medical emergency, referred to as 911 and was transported to the hospital the place she was handled. Whereas responding to the emergency, a police officer discovered in regards to the capsules and underneath additional investigation discovered that an out-of-state physician had provided the medication and turned their findings over to Clayton’s workplace.
The Baton Rouge jury additionally indicted Carpenter, who’s dealing with the identical felony cost because the Louisiana girl. The indictment triggered Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to ship a proper extradition order to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Below Louisiana regulation, physicians convicted of performing an unlawful abortion, together with one with capsules, resist 15 years in jail, $200,000 in fines and the lack of their medical license.
Landry demanded that Carpenter be turned over to Louisiana and face the state’s justice system. Hochul refused, saying she wouldn’t signal the order: “Not now, not ever.”
In the meantime, Texas State District Choose Bryan Gantt ordered Carpenter to pay a $100,000 penalty in addition to attorneys charges for allegedly breaking a Texas regulation by prescribing abortion medicine by way of telemedicine.
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