A West Baton Rouge grand jury indicted a New York doctor and a Louisiana mother Friday, on felony charges for allegedly providing an illegal abortion with drugs obtained through the mail.

It is the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which triggered Louisiana’s strict abortion ban. 

Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company Nightingale Medical; and the mother of the minor in question were all indicted by the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge. The Illuminator is not identifying the mother in order to protect the minor’s identity. The news was first reported by WAFB-TV.

Prosecutors claim the mother ordered abortion medication from Carpenter, who sent it to her in the mail, and the mother reportedly gave it to her pregnant child. 

“The minor child was home alone, felt that she had to take the pill because of what her mother told her,” District Attorney Tony Clayton said in an interview with Talk Louisiana. He said he is not planning on prosecuting the minor.

Clayton’s prosecution involves a law approved in 2022, when then state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican, authored the proposal that makes it a crime to knowingly cause an abortion through medication. It carries penalties of one to five years in prison and a fine range of $5,000-$50,000. The same measure also made it illegal to obtain such drugs through the mail from out of state.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill weighed in on the indictments via social media Friday.

“It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion,” Murrill said. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.”

The crime of “coerced abortion” was not cited in the indictment, but the law involving that crime is what led to Louisiana becoming the first state to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The designation typically applies to highly addictive drugs. Mifepristone and misoprostol are not addictive, and both have multiple uses beyond abortion and are on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. 

In his interview with Talk Louisiana, Clayton referred to the drugs as “poison,” comparing them to fentanyl, and said doctors can’t “hide behind the borders of New York” to ship the medication to Louisiana. [Mifepristone and misoprostol are not related to fentanyl.] 

“To put a pill in commerce that ultimately [goes] into the mouth and stomach of a child, I believe that some folks have to answer to that,” Clayton said. “If it’s legal in New York, keep it up there. Don’t do it down here.”

New York has shield laws intended to protect telehealth providers. 

Carpenter is also being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly sending pills to the state, but the charges are not criminal.

Carpenter is one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine (ACT). In a statement to the Illuminator, ACT said it stands behind New York’s shield laws. 

“The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country,” reads the statement. “Make no mistake, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights. It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected].