Red state leader launches lawsuit that could spark 'civil war' over abortion

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a New York-based abortionist for violating Texas law by shipping abortion drugs into the state.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, is pushing back, saying a recently passed “shield law” protects abortion providers from lawsuits by other states, paving the way for what some call a ” civil war” over abortion.

Paxton released a statement saying the foreign doctor “caused serious harm” to the Texas woman and explained he was filing the lawsuit because “in Texas, we cherish the health and lives of mothers and children. babies, and that's why doctors in the state cannot illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Collin County, claims that New York abortionist Dr. Margaret Carpenter violated Texas law and endangered a 20-year-old Texas woman by illegally shipping drugs in the state without first conducting an in-person examination. of the woman to determine the gestational age of her baby.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a news conference in Dallas, June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, file)

Chemical abortions, which now account for more than 60 percent of all abortions in the United States, are known to pose a risk of serious complications and infection in some cases. Despite this, the Biden administration further eased restrictions on chemical abortion, permanently allowing the drugs to be prescribed via telemedicine, shipped by mail, and obtained at retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.

However, some states, including Texas, continue to restrict distribution of chemical abortion by mail or without a doctor's consultation.

The 20-year-old Texas girl who obtained Carpenter's abortion pills ended up being admitted to a local hospital due to hemorrhaging, or severe bleeding, from the drugs, according to the Paxton lawsuit.

“Carpenter provided abortion-inducing medications to the pregnant Collin County woman, which caused an adverse event or abortion complication and resulted in a medication abortion,” the suit claims. “Carpenter’s knowing and continued violations of Texas law endanger women and unborn children in Texas.”

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Bottles of abortion pills mifepristone, left, and misoprostol, right, at a clinic in Des Moines, Iowa, September 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The suit seeks civil penalties and a permanent block on Carpenter from sending more abortion medications to women in Texas.

However, New York State has a so-called “shield” law that explicitly protects abortion providers from prosecution for prescribing abortion pills to patients in states where it is illegal. It is the first legal challenge by a state pitting one set of abortion laws against another.

Hochul responded to the Texas lawsuit by saying, “I will do everything in my power to uphold the laws of the State of New York. »

“No doctor should be punished for providing necessary care to their patients,” she said, adding: “As Texas attempts to limit women's rights, I am committed to upholding the status of New York as a safe haven for all who seek abortion care, and to protect the reproductive freedom of all New Yorkers.

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Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press release at the Governor's Office on 3rd Avenue in New York, November 14, 2024. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Experts say the Texas challenge could eventually reach the Supreme Court.

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for the pro-life group Students for Life Action, told Fox News Digital she hopes the Texas lawsuit makes it all the way to the Supreme Court so she can reconsider the question of national guarantees. on abortion pills.

Hamrick said that although the Supreme Court ruled against reintroducing restrictions on the abortion pill in a case called AHM v. FDA earlier this year, the court made clear that it was not closing the door on reinstatement of safeguards in another case.

“The Supreme Court didn't say everything was great about the pills, that they could be sold as is. [and] “There were no problems with the pills,” she said. “What the Supreme Court said was you have to go back and start again, you came to us with the wrong victims, they didn't have what the court called 'standing'. '”

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Anti-abortion and pro-abortion activists are separated by a barrier as they demonstrate outside the Supreme Court building, ahead of arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, Washington, December 1, 2021. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

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“So the three states have already come together to say that we have standing, that we are a victim because we are paying higher emergency bills because of these pills,” she continued. “The State has the right to defend its laws. So the State, prima facie, has the right to defend itself and its laws and the laws of its citizens and its duly elected representatives. So, yes , they have the right to defend their laws.

Students for Life Action recently launched its own challenge against abortion pills in the form of what's called a “citizens' petition.” The petition asks the FDA to delay plans to once again expand the use of abortion drugs, this time to treat miscarriages, until the agency reexamines how the pills contaminate the water supply of the country.

“The Biden-Harris administration during COVID has essentially created a de facto right to pollute and pathological medical waste [from abortion pills] “Abortion and miscarriage are not the same thing.” But if you confuse that and then distribute even more of these drugs without any environmental assessment, without any idea of ​​the health and safety risks, that's reckless and dangerous and it's federal. »