All My Patients Live in Texas: Texas v. Carpenter and the Challenge to New York’s Telemedicine Shield Law

Abstract

This article examines the legal conflict between abortion “shield laws” in abortionpermissive states and the extraterritorial reach of anti-abortion statutes via a recent case brought against an abortion provider in New York. In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a civil suit against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a New York physician and co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, alleging she violated Texas’ total abortion ban by prescribing and shipping medication to a Texas resident via telehealth. This Note analyzes how this case serves as the first major test for New York’s shield law, highlighting that while such laws offer robust protections regarding professional licensing and extradition, they remain vulnerable to out-of-state discovery tactics and the possible enforcement of civil judgments.

Part I provides an overview of the abortion provision landscape post-Dobbs, including interstate travel, telemedicine abortion provision, and the statutory frameworks behind “bounty hunter” laws in abortion-hostile states and “shield laws” in abortion-permissive states. Part II discusses the claims made in Texas v. Carpenter and analyzes the interactions between New York’s shield law and Texas’ anti-abortion laws. Part III addresses the constitutional threat to shield laws posed by the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause and how anti-abortion states may try to force shield states to enforce their judgments. Finally, it argues that shield states must enact specific judgment enforcement provisions— such as New York’s proposed S.B. 1995—which frame the refusal to satisfy out-of-state judgments as an exercise of a state’s police power. By narrowing the mechanisms of enforcement rather than denying the judgment’s validity, shield states can better insulate their providers from “bounty hunter” laws and state-led litigation while navigating the “exacting” demands of the Full Faith and Credit Clause.