New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Feb. 3 signed into law legislation that affirms New York’s status as a safe haven for reproductive health care. The Senate version of the bill was sponsored by Westchester’s State Sen. Shelley Mayer. The Assembly version was from Karines Reyes, whose district covers part of the Bronx.
The bill signing came against the background of New York Dr. Margret Carpenter and her partnership and another individual being indicted in Louisiana for providing an abortion medication to a Louisiana woman. The medication was provided after a telemedicine consultation The medication was shipped to the mother of a girl in Louisiana who needed an abortion. Hochul declared that she would never sign off on a request from Louisiana to extradite Carpenter for prosecution there should Louisiana try to go that route.
“As our doctors face threats from hostile states, I am committed to working with my colleagues to provide every possible protection,” Mayer said after passage of the legislation. “We, in New York, will continue to fight for our sisters across state lines whose futures, health, and well-being are threatened and the doctors serving them.”
Reyes, who is a registered nurse and chair of the Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus said, “This will ensure that as states continue to wrongly exhibit hostility toward women and pregnant persons in our society, New York state will be a leader in promoting personal freedom and access to quality health care.”
At the bill signing ceremony attended by key legislators, Hochul said, “The day Roe v. Wade was overturned, was surely a dark day in our nation’s history. With an administration, the Trump administration, in Washington that has been antagonistic to women’s rights, reproductive freedoms and health care providers. We’re now witnessing, in real time, the consequences of that Trump Supreme Court and their decision, and now the collateral damage is so apparent.”
Hochul noted that the Louisiana Grand Jury indicted the New York doctor for providing an FDA-approved medication. She said that because the doctor was responding to a cry for help and provided an appropriate medication the doctor could now be facing up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Hochul pointed out that New York state already has passed SHIELD laws to protect doctors who treat out-of-state patients and a separate SHIELD law to protect doctors who provide abortion services via telemedicine. She said that Louisiana was able to take action against Dr. Carpenter in this latest incident because her name appeared on the prescription label.
“Going forward, when a doctor, a provider prescribes an FDA approved medication, like Mifepristone and Misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy, they’re going to simply have the name of the health care practice on the label, rather than the name of the provider,” Hochul said. “I’m announcing we’ve secured an agreement with the Legislature, that I’m hoping they will pass immediately, to ensure that pharmacies will adhere to these new labeling rules and make sure that they just include the practice address instead of the name of the practice at the request of the provider, if the provider wants that. We’re also requiring that notice be given to the patient that alternative labeling will be used. Other states, they want to target, harass, scare, intimidate doctors and patients. Now that may be okay in a place like Louisiana, maybe Indiana, but those are not our values here in the State of New York. No.”
