NY judge dismisses legal challenge from Texas in early test of abortion shield law

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A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state’s “shield law” designed to protect providers.

Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.

But acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused to file the judgment, saying he was a government employee who had to comply with New York’s shield law, which protects providers from other states’ reach.

New York is among at least eight states with shield laws. Opponents of the laws argue they violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states.

Justice David Gandin ruled that Bruck followed New York law and granted his motion to dismiss the petition from Texas. The judge, sitting in Kingston, wrote that the medical services Carpenter rendered are legal in New York and that they fall “squarely within the definition of ‘legally protected health activity’” under the state’s shield law.

Bruck said he was relieved.

“It seemed very clear to me that as a government employee I should not be complying with this,” he said. “Since there was no precedent for the shield law yet, it feels really good to set that precedent.”

It was not clear if the trial court judge’s ruling would be appealed. An email seeking comment was set to Paxton’s office.

A Texas judge in February ordered Carpenter to pay more than $100,000 in penalties for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas after she failed to appear in court. The judge also issued an injunction barring Carpenter from prescribing abortion medication to Texas residents.

The ruling in Texas was handed down on the same day New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite Carpenter, who was charged in that state with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

Gandin also denied a motion from Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James to intervene in the case, which could have escalated the interstate court battle. The judge said her intervention was not warranted because the constitutionality of New York’s shield law was not at issue in this case.