Texas AG Paxton Moves to Protect Women While Abortionist Margaret Carpenter Just Protects Herself
By Sarah Neely
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is moving forward with a lawsuit against New York abortionist Margaret Carpenter. This case is the first direct challenge to the same dangerous shield laws about which Operation Rescue sounded the alarm in its special exposé, “The Virtual Back-Alley,” highlighted in the 2024 Annual Survey report.
Earlier this year, Carpenter disregarded Texas state law and supplied abortion pills via telemedicine to a woman based in Dallas. Shortly after, the woman found herself in the emergency room with severe bleeding – a high-risk complication in chemical abortions, especially when done at home with no medical oversight.
“Operation Rescue detailed the dangerous expansion of telemedicine abortions – what we call the virtual back-alley – in our 2024 Annual Survey,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Virtual suppliers have nearly tripled since last year, and 22 states have created shield laws or executive orders to protect abortionists trying to cash in on this lucrative, under regulated new trend.
“These shield laws remove any and all accountability for abortionists like Carpenter who can profit from a woman a thousand miles away and face zero consequences when that woman nearly bleeds to death in an emergency room.”
According to the lawsuit, “Carpenter is the Co-Medical Director and Founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT), a nationwide advocacy organization proactively working to advance telemedicine abortion.”
The lawsuit also states that Carpenter started working with Aid Access in 2020, a virtual abortion pill supplier that brazenly offers pills in all 50 states. Aid Access also supplies them as late as 13 weeks into pregnancy, well past the FDA approved cut-off of 10 weeks. Later in 2020, Carpenter also helped found a second virtual supplier, Hey Jane.
“Who knows how many women Carpenter has landed in the emergency room?” asked Newman. “How could anyone know? Like all these virtual suppliers, all Carpenter has to do is take the money and write the prescription. No ultrasound. No exam. And if the woman dies, the New York AG has vowed to protect her. What other class of ‘doctor’ is that ‘privileged’ and protected in America? Only abortionists.”
Though some news outlets have quoted a statement from ACT accusing Ken Paxton of “prioritizing his anti-abortion agenda over the health and well-being of women” – no statements from ACT seem to address the harrowing experience this Dallas woman went through, or the fact that Carpenter is the doctor responsible.
A statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James also failed to question any possible wrongdoing by Carpenter, vowing, instead, to “always protect [New York] providers.”
“Thanks be to God that Ken Paxton is willing to protect this woman and any others who are being targeted by these politically protected virtual suppliers,” Newman added. “Operation Rescue is praying this lawsuit works its way through the courts and, ultimately, strikes down these dangerous shield laws that only serve to protect the abortion industry, leaving the patients it preys upon to face complications, injuries and even possible death completely alone.”
Operation Rescue has been directly involved with two other crucial cases out of Texas, both of which made it to the Supreme Court.
In 2016, Operation Rescue’s research and data related to abortion abuses were heavily cited in at least two amici curiae briefs for Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. A separate amici curiae brief was also filed on behalf of Operation Rescue citing investigations and other data. This important evidence powerfully dispelled misinformation being used in the case to create a false narrative about abortion wait times and the well-documented dangerous conditions at the Whole Women’s Health abortion clinic.
Earlier this year, The American Center for Law and Justice filed another amicus brief on behalf of Operation Rescue in the Supreme Court case regarding mifepristone, Food and Drug Administration vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Operation Rescue’s 2023 Annual Survey report found a direct correlation between the FDA’s recent removal of nearly all protections and a widespread increase of dangerous mail-order abortions.
“The state of Texas has shown incredible devotion to protecting life in the womb,” said Newman, “and Operation Rescue is always ready to share our own meticulous research, data, and investigations with any state Attorney General willing to expose abortion and save the lives of preborn children.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Project Coordinator for Operation Rescue.”
