New York attorney general joins landmark legal battle over out-of-state abortion provider

New York Attorney General Letitia James is intervening in a landmark legal battle involving a New York physician who allegedly prescribed abortion pills via telehealth to a patient in Collin County, Texas

New York Attorney General Letitia James is intervening in a landmark legal battle involving a New York physician who allegedly prescribed abortion pills via telehealth to a patient in Collin County, Texas.

On Monday, James sent a letter to a state Supreme Court judge in Ulster County, New York, invoking her authority to defend the state’s “shield law,” which prohibits state officials from cooperating with investigations into New York providers offering out-of-state abortions. The letter responds to a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The action is a major development in the legal battle — one of the first challenges to New York’s shield law since it was enacted in 2023. It comes amid a growing divide in access to reproductive care across the country after the fall of Roe v. Wade, with some states deepening their defense of abortion rights and others passing new laws that restrict access.

“I am stepping in to defend the integrity of our laws and our courts against this blatant overreach,” James said Monday in a statement shared with NBC News ahead of James’ joining the lawsuit. “Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here.”

The dispute dates to December, when Paxton sued New York physician Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter for allegedly prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol — the two pills involved in a medication abortion — to a Texas patient. Paxton claimed the doctor violated Texas’ near-total abortion ban as well as a state law that requires physicians who perform abortions in Texas to have a Texas medical license.