A New York Supreme Court justice has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the State of Texas against a New York-based doctor accused of providing abortion drugs to a Texas resident.
The case, originally filed in December 2024, targeted Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, who was alleged to have prescribed abortion drugs, including mifepristone, to a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, Texas, through telemedicine.
Last Friday, New York Supreme Court Justice David M. Gandin issued an order rejecting the lawsuit. Carpenter is the first doctor implicated under Texas’ “abortion trigger law,” which was enacted following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
While the New York Supreme Court is a statewide trial-level court rather than the state’s highest court, its ruling effectively shields Carpenter from enforcement of the Texas judgment in New York.
Earlier this year, a Texas district court found Carpenter in violation of portions of the Texas Medical Practice Act and the Texas Health and Safety Code, resulting in a fine exceeding $100,000. However, attempts to enforce the judgment in New York were blocked. In March, the clerk in Ulster County, Taylor Bruck, refused to file an injunction against Carpenter, later affirming that under New York law, rejecting the filing effectively closes the matter.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subsequently filed a petition challenging the clerk’s refusal, setting up the legal confrontation that Gandin addressed in his decision.
Eighteen states, including New York, have enacted abortion-related “shield laws” designed to protect providers and patients from criminal or civil liability originating outside the state. Gandin ruled that Carpenter’s actions fell within New York’s definition of “legally protected health activity,” explicitly referencing the protections outlined in Executive Law §837-x.
