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New NY law lets doctors keep their names off abortion meds
By
Jon Campbell
and
Samantha Max
Published Feb 3, 2025
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Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
By
Jon Campbell
and
Samantha Max
Published Feb 3, 2025
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A bill Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Monday aims to make it harder for authorities in other states to prosecute New York doctors who prescribe abortion medication online.
The new law allows doctors to keep their names off of prescription labels for mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs commonly used to terminate early pregnancies. Instead, they’ll be allowed to list their practices or — once lawmakers approve an agreed-upon tweak in the coming days — the addresses of the practices instead, according to Hochul’s approval message.
Hochul approved the legislation three days after a Louisiana grand jury hit Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a doctor from the Hudson Valley town of New Paltz, with a criminal abortion charge alleging she prescribed abortion medication to a resident of the state. Abortions are banned in Louisiana, with limited exceptions.
“You know how they found this doctor? The doctor's name was on the prescription bottle,” Hochul said at a bill-signing event at the state Capitol. “That's what they were looking for to identify this individual. After today, that will no longer happen.”
But some of the bill’s supporters question whether it would do much to shield doctors who work for small practices with single addresses, such as Carpenter.
Assemblymember Amy Paulin, a Democrat from Westchester County, said the bill Hochul signed is “a great step.” But she said doctors from single practices or those who practice telehealth from their homes won’t be afforded the same anonymity as those who work for larger practices.
“There are many, many doctors who are in single practices, including Dr. Carpenter, who as a result wouldn't be fully protected under this bill,” Paulin said shortly after Hochul signed it into law.
Paulin sponsors a bill that would allow the state health commissioner to issue a non-patient-specific prescription for the two abortion medications, effectively making them available over the counter. Those prescriptions could then be mailed out of state without a doctor’s name or practice attached.
The bill Hochul signed Monday builds on the state’s 2022 “shield laws,” which prohibit local officials from assisting with out-of-state investigations into New York abortion providers in most cases while prohibiting the governor from cooperating with extradition demands.
Carpenter, meanwhile, is the co-founder of a group that fights for doctors’ right to prescribe abortion pills through telehealth services.
At the bill-signing event Monday, Hochul said Carpenter “simply responded to a cry for help” and shouldn’t face the possibility of prison time and steep fines.
“There’s no way in hell that I’ll ever respond to a request to extradite this individual and face criminal charges,” she said. “Never, under any circumstances, will I sign an extradition agreement that sends our doctor into harm’s way to be prosecuted as a criminal for simply following her oath.”
On X, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill condemned Hochul’s comments. Louisiana authorities claim the mother of the teenager who was prescribed the abortion medication coerced the young girl to take it.
“Cheerleading for the alleged coerced abortion of a young girl is sick and barbaric,” Murrill wrote. “It’s not ‘reproductive health care,’ it’s force.”
Hochul said the claims of coercion are “irrelevant” to her obligation to protect the doctor who prescribed the medication to the person who requested it.
“First of all, I'm not sure it's true,” Hochul said about the claims. “No. 2, I'm not sure that that's not just a Republican distraction from what they're trying to do.”
The bill Hochul signed into law took effect immediately on Monday.
Tagged
Kathy Hochul
new york state
Politics
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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