Trump AG Pam Bondi weighs in on regulating abortion pills during New Orleans visit

By: James Finn, originally published February 6, 2025, Nola.com

Medication abortion became a lightning rod after Louisiana prosecutors charged a New York doctor last week for mailing the pills.

Days after Louisiana prosecutors indicted a New York doctor for shipping abortion medication over state lines, President Trump’s newly appointed Attorney General said she would “love to work with” a district attorney campaigning for tougher federal penalties on people who mail those pills to states with abortion bans.

During a meeting with Gov. Jeff Landry and law enforcement officials, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked by Tony Clayton, the West Baton Rouge-area district attorney who obtained charges against the doctor, to seek nationwide “consistency” in laws governing those shipments.

The indictment marks a first-of-its-kind attempt to challenge a Democratic state’s protections for physicians who mail the medications.

Clayton bemoaned how New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to shield doctor Maggie Carpenter from extradition should Carpenter be arrested on a warrant issued by a judge in Louisiana’s 18th Judicial District.

“We’re gonna need your help,” Clayton told Bondi. “I would like to see some consistency around the country that states just can’t harbor fugitives away from folks down here in Louisiana.”

“I would love to work with you,” Bondi replied.

Bondi did not provide specifics on how she would approach the issue. Any new federal laws must pass through Congress, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans.

Moments after her exchange with Clayton, reporters were asked to exit the meeting at Benson Tower in downtown New Orleans. A spokesperson for Bondi’s office did not respond to a phone call and text message seeking clarification on the Justice Department’s position.

Clayton in a phone interview later declined to say whether he and Bondi had discussed the subject further, but said he is “excited about what she’s about to do” as attorney general. A Democrat, Clayton has emerged nonetheless as a prominent ally of Landry’s since the Republican governor took office last year.

New York is among several states that have since passed or solidified “shield laws” aimed at protecting medical professionals there against outside sanctions, setting up an interstate clash. 

The charges against Carpenter have become a legal and political lightning rod in a fight between conservative and liberal states over abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022. Providing an abortion, including abortion medication, has been banned in Louisiana ever since.

A West Baton Rouge grand jury returned the indictment of Carpenter, 55, last week on the state crime of criminal abortion for selling mifepristone tablets causing the pregnant teen to have a miscarriage that ended her pregnancy. She faces between one and five years in prison if convicted.

A separate indictment alleged the teen’s Port Allen mother coerced her daughter to take one of the pills, after the teen bought them online from Carpenter’s Nightingale Medical clinic in upstate New York.

The charges in Louisiana follow a civil lawsuit filed by Texas’ Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton, against Carpenter for allegedly sending abortion pills to a 20-year-old woman.

Carpenter could not be reached for comment Thursday. Groups that support abortion access have defended her as providing a necessary health care procedure.

One method that could allow Trump’s Justice Department to prosecute future cases like Carpenter’s would be a broader reading of the Comstock Act, an 1873 federal ban on interstate shipment of illicit items like pornography. Anti-abortion advocates have called on Trump to throw out a Biden-era interpretation of the law that explicitly exempted abortion pills.

On Monday, Hochul signed into law a bill that bolsters New York’s shield laws for telemedicine health care providers who prescribe abortion medications across state lines. The new law allows family doctors like Carpenter to keep their names off prescription bottles in states with abortion bans.

Bondi was in New Orleans Thursday to review Super Bowl security measures less than 24 hours after being confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Justice Department.

A steadfast Trump ally, former Florida state attorney general and corporate lobbyist, she is expected to pursue a radical reshaping of the department, which has been the target of Trump’s ire over the criminal cases brought against him.

She enters with the FBI, which she will oversee, in turmoil over the scrutiny of agents who were involved in investigations related to the president, who has made clear a desire to seek revenge on perceived adversaries.

Neither Landry nor Louisiana’s attorney general, Liz Murrill, who was also present for Thursday’s briefing at Benson Tower, weighed in on the abortion pill issue during the meeting.

Murrill has been vocal about the case but did not mention it in a brief press statement thanking Bondi for meeting with the Louisiana officials Thursday.

Murrill on Tuesday clapped back at Hochul’s statement backing protection for Carpenter, saying, “It’s important to remember this case involves allegations of a forced abortion. This doctor’s actions facilitated the death of a wanted child.”

Also attending Thursday’s meeting were a slate of prominent local law enforcement officials: East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson and New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

James Finn covers politics for The Times-Picayune | Nola.com.