ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) – In a first-of-its-kind challenge, a New York doctor has been sued by the state of Texas after a prescription for abortion pills was made through telemedicine. The lawsuit alleges the doctor violated Texas law, where abortion is illegal.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit has put New York’s Shield Law to the test for the first time. The law addresses interstate telemedicine and is meant to protect reproductive rights after that landmark Supreme Court ruling, when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
In 2022, the Supreme Court held the constitution does not protect rights to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. After that decision, many states outlawed abortion, while other states adopted measures to protect doctors who provide abortion services.
The Shield Law is intended to protect medical providers from being punished for prescribing abortion pills to patients in states with bans, prescriptions that are made online or over the phone.
Texas bars abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Paxton’s lawsuit claims the New York doctor violated Texas laws and seeks up to $250,000 and an injunction on that doctor for providing abortion pills to a patient who lives in Texas.
Attorney and Partner at Tully Rinckey Donald Chesworth sheds light on the situation.
“The first question is going to be, is writing a prescription practicing medicine? And if it is, then I think the law clearly prohibits anybody from doing it in a state that they’re not licensed in,” said Chesworth.
Chesworth said there’s a second question that will come into play.
“Can a doctor write a prescription for a patient who is not a resident of the state where the doctor is licensed?” said Chesworth.
The Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine says tele-med abortion services increase access to healthcare.
