KINGSTON – Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck, Thursday (today) notified the Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton that he will not be filing a summary judgment against New Paltz Doctor Margaret Carpenter who is facing charges in Texas for providing an abortion pill via telehealth last year to a Texas resident.
The judgment is seeking a civil penalty of over $100,000 as a result of0 the doctor’s prescription for mifepristone.
“As the Acting Ulster County Clerk, I hold my responsibilities and the oath I have taken in the highest regard,” Bruck said. “In accordance with the New York State Shield Law, I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office. Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation.”
For a court judgment to be filed in New York State, it must be handled through a county clerk’s office, and Bruck has declined to do so.
“The anti-woman, anti-abortion zealots are at it again,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to come after a New York doctor who prescribed medication abortion via telemedicine — the same doctor who is facing charges in Louisiana for the so-called ‘crime’ of prescribing this FDA-approved medication.”
The New York governor said the Ulster County clerk “bravely stood up with a simple message: hell no. Acting County Clerk Taylor Bruck has formally notified Texas that in accordance with our shield laws he is rejecting the filing of a judgment against a New York doctor. New York is grateful for his courage and common sense.”
She said New York “will never back down from fighting for these fundamental rights.”
Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, meanwhile, said she “fully supports” Bruck’s decision.
Metzger said by Bruck declining the Texas AG’s motion for judgment against Carpenter, “he is following the intent of the New York State Shield Law, which protects providers and patients from unjust legal action originating outside our state.”
Metzger said states “have no business interfering in women’s reproductive health decisions, and New York stands as a safe haven for those seeking reproductive health care.”
Metzger said states “have no business interfering in women’s reproductive health decisions, and New York stands as a safe haven for those seeking reproductive health care.”
State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D, Saugerties) also chimed in on the subject. “”The only response to this depraved effort by Texas to penalize private healthcare decisions is to reject it, and our Acting Ulster County Clerk has courageously done that today in upholding the New York State Shield Law.
She said New York “will not bend to the extreme injustice of hostile, grandstanding Attorneys General weaponizing the legal system to control people’s lives and bodies. We stand in defense of our doctors doing their jobs, patients seeking healthcare, and against overreach no matter who’s behind it. The Hudson Valley is a beacon of what’s right and just and always will be.”
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