A New York state court is rejecting Texas’ motion to enforce a fine against a doctor for mailing abortion medication to a Texas woman, a move that could accelerate a legal battle over whether so-called shield laws are constitutional.

Texas officials are seeking to force Dr. Margaret Carpenter to pay a $113,000 penalty issued by a state judge after she did not appear in court for a lawsuit over her prescription of abortion medication to a patient in the Lone Star State via telemedicine. The judge also ordered Dr. Carpenter to stop prescribing abortion medication to Texas. Officials in Louisiana are seeking to extradite the doctor to their state to face criminal charges for her prescription of abortion medication via telemedicine.. 

The two cases are likely to set up a legal battle over New York’s shield law, which is supposed to protect doctors who prescribe abortion medication to patients in other states from legal action. 

On Thursday, the acting clerk of the Ulster County Supreme Court at Kingston, Taylor Bruck, said he would not file Texas’ motion to enforce the penalty and force Dr. Carpenter to stop sending abortion medication to Texas.

“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. The judgment in question seeks a civil penalty exceeding $100,000 due to the doctor’s failure to appear in court,” Mr. Bruck said in a statement. 

Mr. Bruck cited the state’s shield law as the reason for his decision not to file the motion and said he will “refuse any similar filings that may come to our office.”

Representatives for the Texas attorney general’s office did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. Texas could seek to challenge the decision in state or federal court.

However, Governor Hochul cheered the move, saying, “The anti-woman, anti-abortion zealots are at it again. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to come after a New York doctor who prescribed medication abortion via telemedicine.”

“The County Clerk in Ulster County bravely stood up with a simple message: hell no. Acting County Clerk Taylor Bruck has formally notified Texas that in accordance with our shield law, he is rejecting the filing of a judgment against a New York doctor. New York is grateful for his courage and common sense,” Ms. Hochul said. 

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sued Dr. Carpenter in December, saying she violated the state’s abortion ban by mailing abortion medication to a 20-year-old woman at Collin County when she was nine weeks pregnant. 

In a separate case, Louisiana officials filed criminal charges against Dr. Carpenter for allegedly prescribing abortion medication to a minor patient in their state. Governor Landry signed an extradition order for the doctor.

However, Ms. Hochul responded by saying she would not honor the extradition request due to the state’s Shield Law. 

Either of the two cases could wind up before the Supreme Court to determine whether shield laws are constitutional. Eight states have laws protecting doctors who send abortion medication to patients in other states. However, they are relatively new concepts that states passed after the high court overturned Roe v. Wade, and up to now, they have not been challenged in court.