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US abortion doctor facing arrest warrant now living in Dublin


The Irish Medical Council has refused to comment on its registration of an American abortion doctor, now living in Dublin, who has an active warrant against her from the state of Louisiana for alleged criminal charges relating to provision of the abortion pill across state lines. 

Last October, Dr Margaret Carpenter, who was practising in New York, registered with the Irish Medical Council and is now living in South Dublin. It is not known whether she plans to continue distributing abortion pills from this country.

Dr Carpenter is wanted in relation to providing abortion-inducing drugs to a minor, with the Louisiana District Attorney Tony Clayton alleging that the doctor, based in New York at the time, had sent the pills to the teenager’s mother to give to her daughter. Carpenter was charged because her name was found on the mailed prescription, the DA said.

Clayton told NPR that the girl had wanted to keep the baby and had called 911 after taking the pills, which is how the police learned of the medication and its source. He said that the minor was home alone, and felt that she had to take the pill because of what her mother told her.

“The young child was told by the mother that she had to take the pill or else. The child took the pill was home alone… felt something happening to her body and began haemorrhaging, and the baby began to come out,” Clayton told local news.

Louisiana passed a near-ban on abortion in 2022, the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade ruling which had legalised abortion on a constitutional basis.

Last February, at the request of Attorney General Liz Murrill and DA Clayton, Governor Jeff Landry signed an extradition warrant for Dr Carpenter after a grand jury in West Baton Rouge indicted Carpenter for the charge of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs – a charge law enforcers said related back to actions undertaken April 2024.

On Jan 31, 2025, Carpenter became the first U.S. doctor criminally charged for providing abortion pills across state lines.

Dr Carpenter, her company, Nightingale Medical, and a third person – the minor’s mother who is unnamed to protect the minor – were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, which is a felony.

In a video message at the time, Gov Landry said he wanted to be clear about what the case involved.

“A minor in Louisiana got pregnant. She was excited to have a baby and was planning a gender reveal party,” he claimed. “Her mom conspired with a NY doctor to get a chemical abortion pill in the mail and coerced her to take it. She ended up in the hospital,” he said.

“There is only one right answer in this situation: the doctor must face extradition to Louisiana where she can stand trial and justice will be served. We owe this to the minor and the innocent life lost,” he said.


   

   

However, New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, countered by releasing her own video, saying she was refusing to extradite Carpenter. “Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” she argued.

She said that the Supreme Court may have allowed Louisiana to change their abortion laws but that New York would use shield laws to protect abortion providers like Carpenter. “I am proud to say that I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the State of Louisiana under any extradition request,” she said.

But Louisiana Attorney General, Liz Murrill, said that it is “illegal to send abortion pills into this State and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion”.

“I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” she added.

And she countered NY Gov Hochul’s statement by saying: “Dr. Carpenter needs to be careful with her travel plans. There is an active warrant for her arrest because she clearly broke Louisiana law, & a grand jury indicted her in just minutes. The doctor’s actions facilitated the death of a wanted child. Louisiana will continue to protect women & babies.”


AG Murrill’s office confirmed to Gript that the warrant issued for Dr Carpenter’s arrest is active.

Dr Carpenter told Time earlier this year: “[Most people in the U.S.] believe what a woman does with a pregnancy should be between her and her provider, not decided by politicians or judges. ”

“Until this freedom becomes a reality for everyone around the world, there is more work to be done,” she said.

   

This was first published in Gript and is published here with permission

https://gript.ie/us-abortion-d...

    

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