A Louisiana grand jury has indicted a New York doctor and her company for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant mino...
A Louisiana grand jury has indicted a New York doctor and her company for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the state.
According to District Attorney Tony Clayton, the mother of the victim requested the pills through a questionnaire without any consultation with the minor. The mother then directed her daughter to take a "cocktail of pills" mailed to her from New York, which in turn, led to a medical emergency for the minor who had to be hospitalized.
In line with this, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medical, PC and the mother have all been charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.
"The mother has since been arrested, but the other person we believe is just as culpable here is the person who sat in an office, wrapped a box of pills, put a stamp on the box and mailed it to the state of Louisiana for a child to take," Clayton said.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Carpenter and the minor’s mother, with authorities expecting Carpenter to respond to the charges. The case is set to proceed in the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge.
"I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Jan. 31.
Louisiana categorizes abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances
The indictment comes just months after Louisiana passed a law reclassifying mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances.
The legislation, known as Senate Bill 276, was proposed by Republican state Sen. Thomas Pressly after his sister was given misoprostol against her will. The law aims to prevent the unauthorized distribution of abortion medications by making it a crime to give these drugs to someone without their consent.
Under this legislation, anyone found in possession of misoprostol or mifepristone without a valid prescription would face felony charges, punishable with up to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000. The legislation also includes an exemption for pregnant women who possess the drugs for their own consumption and allows doctors to continue prescribing them.
The amended law also places these drugs in the same category as other highly regulated substances such as narcotics and depressants. The distribution or possession with intent to distribute Schedule IV drugs in Louisiana carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $15,000.
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