Gov. Hochul signs bill aimed at shielding doctors who prescribe abortion medication

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Monday aimed at protecting medical providers by allowing them to request that only the name of their practice be printed on prescription abortion medication labels instead of their personal name.

The law, which is effective immediately, looks to shield physicians from being prosecuted in other states that have limited abortion access.

"As other states turn to the Dark Ages, New York remains committed to being a light, a beacon for reproductive freedom," said Hochul, a Democrat, at a news conference prior to signing the bill. "Providing abortion care by telehealth or mail can be a lifesaving intervention for people living in states where their most basic right to control their own bodies are denied."

Hochul signed the bill contingent on the State Legislature passing an amendment that would legally require pharmacies to comply, heading off any potential issues.

"This is an urgent situation," Hochul told reporters.

The legislation comes after a grand jury in Louisiana on Friday indicted a New York doctor for providing abortion pills to a Louisiana resident. The physician, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, was identified because her name was found on the prescription label. She was charged with criminal abortion, a felony in Louisiana.

Hochul vowed she would "never, under any circumstances" sign an extradition agreement to send the doctor to be prosecuted in Louisiana.

"While other states escalate efforts to criminalize abortion, New York stands firm," State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said in a news release. "We will not allow anti-abortion extremists to intimidate providers or block access to care."

The doctor had been operating under the state’s shield law, enacted in 2023, which protects New York-based doctors who serve patients in restrictive states through telehealth.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, overturned previous case law, concluding that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. While states such as New York increased abortion protections as a result of the decision, others increased restrictions or, like Louisiana, banned abortion.

The new legislation aims to further shield doctors by allowing them to ask the dispensing pharmacy to use the name of their practice instead of their personal name on prescription labels for medication used to perform medical abortions, including mifepristone, misoprostol and generic alternatives, Hochul said. The medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, she said.

Assembly Republican leader William A. Barclay (R-Pulaski) said he voted against the legislation. "I didn’t think it was a situation that was all that necessary," he said.

"They’re doing it obviously for political reasons," Barclay said.

And sometimes there’s a danger and people want to know who prescribed the prescription, Barclay said, adding that it’s important to have the doctor’s name from a health standpoint. "We’ll see. Maybe it becomes an issue," he said of the law.

But State Sen. Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers), who sponsored the new law in the Senate, said threats to doctors are no longer abstract. "This legislation represents a renewal of our commitment to women nationwide and the brave doctors who provide them essential health care," she said in the release.

Assemb. Karines Reyes (D-Bronx), who sponsored the legislation in the Assembly, also applauded the bill’s passage. "As our country's women and pregnant persons face the draconian policies of the new Trump Administration in the post-Dobbs landscape, creative solutions are required to achieve reproductive justice," she said.