New York Gov. Hochul signs new pro-abortion law allowing doctors' names to be omitted from prescriptions

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NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) -- After a Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York-based doctor last week for unlawfully prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant minor in direct violation of state law, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday signed a new law aimed at shielding the identities of doctors in her state who prescribe abortifacients.

The law, which was immediately put into effect, allows abortion drug-prescribing doctors to omit their names from prescription drug labels destined for pregnant women in what Hochul considers to be “hostile states.”

According to a statement from the governor’s office, the new law will “allow prescribers to ask that the dispensing pharmacy print the name of their practice instead of their personal names on the prescription labels for mifepristone, misoprostol and generic alternatives.”

“Some states want to prosecute our providers – but I'll fight like hell to protect them,” the defiant Hochel declared. 

Hochul had taken to social media over the weekend, calling the Louisiana indictment “outrageous.” She also insisted that the murderous drug prescribed to the teen was “lifesaving,” and that the abortion doctor’s work is “essential.”

“We must stand firm and fight this and I will do everything I can to protect this doctor and allow her to continue the work that she is doing that is so essential,” she asserted at the time.

New York is one of a handful of states that have instituted “shield laws” to protect abortionists from criminal and civil suits filed in other states.

Her action comes just as a newly released poll shows that just 31 percent of New York voters say they would re-elect Gov. Hochul next year, and 57 percent, including 41 percent of Democrats, want someone else.

Interestingly, the same poll of New Yorkers, conducted by Siena College, found President Trump to have a 41 percent favorability rating, showing him to be more than 30 percent more popular than Hochul.

In response to Hochul’s outburst over the weekend, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill noted, “It is illegal to send abortion pills into this state and it's illegal to coerce another into having an abortion.”

“I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” Murrill said.

“Louisiana has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from high-risk abortion drugs," Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Erik Baptist said. “Every abortion kills the baby and harms the mother, and the FDA’s own label says that roughly one in 25 women and girls taking abortion drugs will end up in the emergency room. If the FDA continues to recklessly disregard the serious risks that abortion drugs pose to pregnant women and girls, states are left with no choice but to step in and ensure that no one else is harmed by these drugs.”

While it appears that Louisiana is the first state to have brought criminal charges against an out-of-state doctor for prescribing and sending abortion pills through the mail, late last year a civil suit was filed in Texas against the same New York doctor.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, once again allowing the elected branches of government to ban abortion, states have enacted wildly differing laws, with Louisiana and Texas establishing near-total abortion bans and New York not only protecting abortions up to 24 weeks for any reason – and up to birth in many circumstances – but also shielding abortionists from out-of-state prosecutions.

Pro-lifers have often warned that even when “properly” taken, abortion pills are not only lethal to preborn children but more dangerous to women than advertised. “As of December 31, 2018, there were reports of 24 deaths of women associated with Mifeprex since the product was approved in September 2000, including two cases of ectopic pregnancy resulting in death; and several cases of severe systemic infection (also called sepsis), including some that were fatal,” the FDA has warned, on top of at least 2,740 cases of severe complications from 2000 to 2012.

A recent peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute also concluded that “the rate of abortion-related emergency room visits following a chemical abortion increased over 500 percent from 2002 through 2015, according to an analysis of Medicaid claims data.” Additionally, the study also found that “the rate of abortion-related ER visits is growing faster for chemical abortions than (for) surgical abortions."

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