Overview

• On July 28, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a writ of mandamus to force Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck to record and collect a $100,000 civil judgment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter.
• Bruck, citing New York’s 2023 shield law, rejected two previous requests to enforce the penalty imposed by a Collin County judge after Carpenter failed to appear in court.
• The underlying judgment stems from a February ruling that Carpenter mailed abortion pills to a Texas patient, resulting in hospitalization and fetal loss.
• Carpenter is also facing criminal abortion charges in Louisiana for mailing abortion-inducing drugs to a minor’s guardian.
• The case represents a first test of competing state sovereignty claims and could influence future interstate enforcement of abortion regulations.