After Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton makes an attempt to make use of New York courts to implement Texas’s abortion bans, New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James says she is intervening to bar this transfer.
James stated on Monday, Sept. 8, that the Texas lawyer common is suing a New York county clerk after his workplace was blocked from submitting papers to gather a $113,000 judgment towards a New York physician who supplied “protected, authorized telehealth abortion care.
The New York Lawyer Normal stated the lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of New York’s defend legislation, which protects suppliers and sufferers by stopping state and native officers from serving to out-of-state prosecutions for abortion or gender-affirming care.
On Monday, James stated she formally intervened within the lawsuit to defend the defend legislation and guarantee out-of-state extremists can not use New York’s courts to advance their anti-abortion agenda.
“I am stepping in to defend the integrity of our legal guidelines and our courts towards this blatant overreach,” stated Lawyer Normal James. “Texas has no authority in New York, and no energy to impose its merciless abortion ban right here.
“Our defend legislation exists to guard New Yorkers from out-of-state extremists, and New York will all the time stand sturdy as a protected haven for well being care and freedom of alternative,” she added. “I’ll struggle each final try to roll again our rights and switch again the clock on reproductive freedom.”
Handed in 2023 after the US Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade, James stated New York’s defend legislation protects reproductive and gender-affirming care suppliers who supply totally authorized well being care.
She stated the legislation prohibits public officers from implementing out-of-state subpoenas, judgments, arrests, or extraditions in instances concentrating on suppliers, and extends these protections to reproductive well being care suppliers providing telehealth care in New York.
In December 2024, James stated that the Texas lawyer common sued a New York physician in Texas courtroom for offering abortion telehealth care from her clinic in Ulster County.
After a Texas decide issued a $113,000 judgment towards the physician, James stated the lawyer common tried to deliver his case to New York courts, asking the Ulster County Supreme Court docket to implement the judgment and assist accumulate the cash awarded in Texas.
Nonetheless, James stated the county clerk rejected the submitting underneath New York’s defend legislation, which bars courts and officers from utilizing state sources to implement out-of-state punishments towards protected well being care suppliers.
In response, James stated the Texas lawyer common sued the clerk and challenged New York’s defend legislation, claiming the legislation violates the Structure’s Full Religion and Credit score Clause.
Now, Lawyer Normal James is stepping in to defend the defend legislation. On Monday, she formally notified Ulster County Supreme Court docket Decide David Gandin that she is intervening in Texas’s lawsuit, invoking her authority to defend New York legal guidelines which can be challenged in courtroom.
In courtroom filings to return, Lawyer Normal James stated she is going to argue that Texas can not commandeer New York’s courts to implement its punitive abortion legal guidelines, and that New York has the authorized proper and duty to safeguard its residents, its suppliers, and its courts from out-of-state overreach.
James famous that this case is a part of a rising effort by anti-abortion politicians to increase their bans throughout state traces and punish suppliers and medical professionals who proceed to supply abortion and reproductive well being care.
The New York Lawyer Normal stated she is standing as much as shield New York’s sovereignty and to make sure that one state’s politics can not dictate folks’s well being care selections in one other.
“At a time when reproductive freedom is underneath unprecedented assault, our state and its leaders should do every little thing of their energy to guard these searching for abortion care and the suppliers delivering it,” stated Robin Chappelle Golston, president and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood Empire State Acts. “We’re extremely lucky to have an lawyer common who embodies this dedication and is a tenacious defender of our freedoms.”
“As we’re seeing extra extremists in different states attempting to encroach on our elementary freedoms, New York’s management has been vital in combating again. The steps Lawyer Normal James has taken, from implementing a defend legislation to implementing the poll measure, are all paramount to stopping a nationwide abortion ban,” stated Mini Timmmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All.
“Lawyer Normal James’ decisive actions are precisely what we want on this disaster, and we’re grateful to her workplace for defending New Yorkers and guaranteeing suppliers and sufferers are protected against this harmful overreach,” she added.
“We’re elated that Lawyer Normal James is taking motion towards this newest try by the state of Texas to impose its abortion ban throughout state traces,” stated Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Heart for Reproductive Rights. “For the numerous girls who’re unable to go away Texas for abortion care, utilizing telehealth to get abortion capsules has been a lifeline. The Texas Lawyer Normal filed this lawsuit to intimidate medical doctors and minimize off this vital lifeline for the ladies in his state. We are able to’t let that occur.”
