NY Flips TX The Bird In Medication Abortion Suit

This morning, a county clerk in New York told Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to pound sand, refusing to domesticate a judgment under the Empire State’s abortion shield law.

The case involves a $130,000 fine levied in absentia against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, the founder and director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. Texas alleges that the doctor mailed mifepristone to a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, Texas, who was later turned in by her romantic partner. Dr. Carpenter is also under criminal indictment in Louisiana for helping a woman there.

Under New York’s shield law, passed in 2023 after the Dobbs decision, the state will not cooperate with out-of-state civil or criminal process relating to abortion (as well as gender-affirming care). Last month, the state denied a demand to extradite the doctor to Louisiana, and now it’s refusing to register the civil judgment against her.

“Today, I informed Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton that the Ulster County Clerk’s Office will not be filing a summary judgment against a New Paltz physician who is facing charges in Texas for providing mifepristone via telehealth to a Texas resident,” Acting Clerk Taylor Bruck said in a statement on the county’s website. “In accordance with the New York State Shield Law, I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office.”

The Times Union, which originally reported the story, interviewed Bruck, who clearly understands that he’s about to be in middle of a maelstrom that may turn him into the Kim Davis of the left.

“Any future lawsuit will provide the answers for what we have to do going forward, what all clerks will have to do going forward. It will set the precedent,” Bruck told the local paper. “It’s a bit nerve-wracking just because of the unknown, but it’ll be good to get some answers out of it.”

For his part, Paxton is itching to sue, and his office has already called multiple times demanding an update, despite the state’s 30-day window to domesticate a foreign judgment. He’s got to run again next year, and so the window to get himself in front of the Supreme Court taking on the godless libruls in New York is tight.

But unlike Kim Davis, who recently lost a protracted appeal to avoid personal liability, Bruck has the support of local politicians and law enforcement. (And New York AG Letitia James is not exactly afraid of the spotlight either.)

“The anti-woman, anti-abortion zealots are at it again,” Governor Kathy Hochul said this morning, thanking Bruck “for his courage and common sense.” 

“Texas AG Ken Paxton chose the wrong community to mess with,” agreed Bruck’s US Rep. Pat Ryan. “The Hudson Valley doesn’t back down — we stand for freedom, and together, we will win this fight.”

Ulster County clerk refuses to file Texas judgment in abortion case [Times Union]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.

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