1mo ago

New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana

apnews.com Arrest warrant issued for New York doctor indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pill

An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online to a pregnant minor. Dr.

The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.

32 comments

The most amazing part of this timeline isn't just the fact that the US is turning into a third-world shithole, but the speed at which it's doing it.
- The unfortunate truth is that we've been a shithole for a very long time, but now it's affecting more people so more people are noticing.
- Republicans were taking notes when we handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban.
- Well, looking at the current events in Germany, I'll bet they could catch up rather soon
  
  What current events? The conservative party (with help accepted from the far right) today failed to push through the actual bill for stricter immigration law, after over 100000 people had demonstrated in the streets against their proposal yesterday.
  They got slapped in the face so hard it could be heard across the country.

I think the last time states tried arresting people outside their borders for actions committed outside their borders was the Fugitive Slave Act.
Didn’t go so well back then.

Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription for any purpose, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.
Well what's the fucking point of the law then?
- To punish the women without actually saying they're going to punish the women.
  They basically want a situation where they can say "you are perfectly free to obtain this on your own" while making sure no doctor in their right mind would actually give it to you.
  
  That's the goal with transgender healthcare too. The Republicans have two purposes: (1) get richer by swindling people, and (2) make people they irrationally hate suffer. The notions of making anything better or serving the people don't even register on their radar.
  
  Are the drugs supposed to fall off accidentally from a plane, and pregnant women that need the drug just so happen to find a box on the ground?
  
  Pharmacy robbery is then, we go in, grab the pills and get out. Clean easy and quick.

Oh no, they can't go to Louisiana anymore...
- It's a bit broader than that; they're probably limited to states with abortion shield laws as states without one will likely be willing to arrest them and ship them to Louisiana.
  
  The fun part of that becomes, how will they know? Constant license plate tracking through cameras and subsequent information sharing across state PDs to catch, what in reality, is a political crime, and only illegal for brownie points with the electorate, or will they rely on more pointed surveillance waiting for the opportunity?
  Also, I know license plates already get tracked, but I don't think an Dr prescribing a legal medication in their state would warrant flagged traveling across a multitude of states just for the chance to make a political arrest. Not that it's beyond them or I don't think they would to make a point, but it would admittedly be more absurd than expected.
- I wouldn't be so sure of that.
  This is very likely going to the Supreme court. And there is a non-zero chance that they will allow states to start enforcing their laws outside of their own borders (of course, they'll word it in such a way to make sure only Republican states can impose their will on blue states. Once blue states try to impose their own laws, it'll be viewed upon as retaliation and struck down by the SC because reasons.)
  If they manage to get that far (and again, there is a non-zero chance they will), it's not all that much of a hop, skip, and a jump before it's perfectly legal for one state to send state troopers to a residence in another state in order to enforce state laws, with the rationale that "criminals cannot simply escape consequences for their crimes by fleeing to a state sympathetic to their cause" or somesuch. (And again, they'll be sure to make sure that only red states are allowed this luxury.)
  And I could very easily see a prosecutor who wants to advance his own legal or political career willing to try this while the entire justice system is extremely MAGA friendly and basically forcing the issue.
  
  I look forward to a massive influx of doctors seeking asylum in Canada if this occurs.
- What's next? Are they deporting him to a first world country?

But the Dr didn't send the pills. He wrote a prescription...

32 comments