Texas is trying to force a New York official to file a penalty against a doctor based in the Empire State accused of mailing abortion-inducing medication to a woman in Texas. 

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, said on Monday that his office filed a petition seeking a writ of mandamus from a court in New York that would force the acting clerk of Ulster County, Taylor Bruck, to file a summary judgment and a court summons against a New York-based doctor, Margaret Carpenter.

In December 2024, Mr. Paxton sued Dr. Carpenter for allegedly sending abortion-inducing drugs to a woman in Texas. A Texas court issued a civil judgment of more than $100,000 against the doctor. However, Mr. Bruck has twice refused to file the judgment, citing New York’s shield law, which is designed to protect doctors from facing civil or criminal penalties from states that restrict abortion or for sending abortion-inducing medication to those states.

“Dr. Carpenter is a radical abortionist who must face justice, not get legal protection from New York liberals intent on ending the lives of as many unborn children as they can,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. 

“No matter where they reside, pro-abortion extremists who send drugs designed to kill the unborn in Texas will face the full force of our state’s pro-life laws,” he added. 

Mr. Bruck responded to the latest filing, saying in a statement that he is “upholding New York state’s Shield Law.”

Dr. Carpenter is also facing criminal charges in Louisiana for allegedly mailing abortion medication to the state. The governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, signed an extradition request for the doctor. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has defiantly refused to sign the warrant, citing the state’s shield law. 

Supporters of the actions by Texas and Louisiana say that New York is violating the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, which requires states to recognize legal judgments of other states. Louisiana’s case has raised questions about whether New York is violating the extradition clause of the Constitution, and whether Dr. Carpenter can be considered a fugitive because she was not operating in Louisiana when she mailed the medication.

In the months since New York officials have refused to honor the judgments of Louisiana and Texas, speculation has formed around either state seeking a writ of mandamus as a next step in the process to get a challenge to shield laws before the Supreme Court.

Last week, a Texas man filed a federal lawsuit against a California doctor for allegedly sending abortion medication to his girlfriend. That suit accuses the doctor of wrongful death, and appears aimed at getting the high court to weigh in on whether the 1873 Comstock Act — which bans mailing anything intended for producing abortion — can be applied to prohibit the shipping of abortion medication.