The acting Ulster County clerk says he's rejecting a filing of judgment from Texas against a New Paltz physician.
In a statement, Taylor Bruck said he informed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the judgment against Dr. Maggie Carpenter, charged with providing mifepristone — which can be used to end pregnancies as part of a two-drug regimen with misoprostol — to a Texas resident via telehealth, will not be filed. Bruck cited New York's Shield Law, which is in place to protect New York-based health care providers and patients from both criminal and civil liability in other states in connection with abortion and gender-affirming resources.
" ... I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office," Bruck said in the statement. "Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation."
In February, a Texas district judge had ruled that Dr. Carpenter pay a $100,000 fine, and attorney's fees, for allegedly breaking a Texas law by perscribing the pills.
Texas Attorney General Paxton said in a statement, in part that "New York is shredding the Constitution to hide lawbreakers from justice, and it must end. I will not stop my efforts to enforce Texas's pro-life laws that protect our unborn children and mothers.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there is decades of evidence that mifepristone and misoprostol are safe and effective.
Pills have become the most common method of abortion in the U.S. and are at the center of political and legal fights over abortion access following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Such prescriptions, made online and over the phone, are a key reason that the number of abortions has increased across the U.S. since state bans started taking effect.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had previously rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite Carpenter, who was charged in that state with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.
Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger expressed her support for Bruck's rejection, saying he is following the intent of the state's Shield Law.
"States have no business interfering in women's reproductive health decisions, and New York stands as a safe haven for those seeking reproductive health care," Metzger said in a statement.
Congressperson Pat Ryan, who represents much of Ulster County, said in a statement that "Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck upheld the law and stood for justice by rejecting Paxton's baseless filing against Dr. Maggie Carpenter."
Legal experts say that this case is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court, in what could be a landmark decision as it relates to shield laws like New York's. Marist University political science professor Lynn Eckert says it's all but guaranteed to be heard by the nation's highest court.
“Can a state protect one of its citizens from being prosecuted by another state for an action that's legal in their home state? I think that's probably going to be one of the biggest issues," Eckert said. "The other big issues is whether we have state sovereignty surrounding our own abortion laws in New York State.”
She cautioned proponents of so-called abortion pills and shield laws that due to the current makeup of the Court, it could wind up being an unwise strategy to have the case heard there.
"This court very likely might strike down the shield law in ways that would really further harm those who believe that abortion is a fundamental right and that we should return back to Roe," Eckert said.
