Arrest warrant issued for New York doctor indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pill
apnews.com
An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online to a pregnant minor. Dr.

The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.

      • CMLVI@lemmy.world
        16·
        8 months ago

        The fun part of that becomes, how will they know? Constant license plate tracking through cameras and subsequent information sharing across state PDs to catch, what in reality, is a political crime, and only illegal for brownie points with the electorate, or will they rely on more pointed surveillance waiting for the opportunity?

        Also, I know license plates already get tracked, but I don’t think an Dr prescribing a legal medication in their state would warrant flagged traveling across a multitude of states just for the chance to make a political arrest. Not that it’s beyond them or I don’t think they would to make a point, but it would admittedly be more absurd than expected.

          • CMLVI@lemmy.world
            2·
            8 months ago

            I don’t think the practice of it would be hard, it’s more the passing of information between depts. Open investigations get botched with info transfer, and people skate by with open warrants for “worse” charges than prescribing a medication some states don’t like. I don’t think the shortcoming is in the ability to do it, moreso the will. I do concede that maybe I’m underestimating the amount of red-faced cops who would love to be the arresting officer, but I’d hope they could find better uses of their time than this. I do continue to be surprised at things though, so maybe you’re right.

              • CMLVI@lemmy.world
                2·
                8 months ago

                It isn’t about database functionality, it’s about information sharing across jurisdictions and state lines. There isn’t a national police force, different precincts use different methods. States have highway patrol, local PD, sheriff’s, etc. It isn’t just saying “look for plate NY-A447 338” and every camera across the nation checks for it. Additionally, not every Dept and precinct is going to have resources to throw at catching a random Dr because Louisiana is pissy about stuff. There also would, presumably, be some planned lack of cooperation across some states and potentially intra-state departments. Different places prioritize different crimes to chase. New York obviously won’t be extraditing him, and I imagine similarly for other Northeast states surround NY, as well as “blue” city precincts.

                I’m sure the Dr is questioning traveling and stuff; but that’s wasn’t what I was trying to discuss; it was merely the concept of a national surveillance system monitoring one individual on behalf of a single state (or group of randomly spaced states) throwing resources after a political win, and the necessary cooperation across dozens and dozens of different state and local departments, in pursuit of this one individual.