The legislation, which takes effect immediately, allows practitioners to use their medical practice names instead of personal names on prescriptions for abortion medications, thereby shielding their identities.
The bill was signed after New York physician Margaret Carpenter, MD, was indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pills to a patient in the state, underscoring the emerging rifts between states with differing abortion laws.
The new law builds on the state’s telemedicine abortion shield, which prevents New York authorities from cooperating with out-of-state prosecutions targeting abortion providers. The legislation comes amid heightened legal battles since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, in the wake of which a number of states have enacted abortion bans or restrictions.
