ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday signed a bill to shield the identities of doctors who prescribe abortion medications, days after a physician in the state was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor in Louisiana.
The new law, which took effect immediately, allows doctors to request for their names to be left off abortion pill bottles and instead list the name of their health care practices on medication labels.
The move came after a grand jury in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana indicted New York Dr. Margaret Carpenter and her company on Friday for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor.
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.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she would not sign an extradition request to send Carpenter to Louisiana and said authorities in Louisiana discovered the name of the doctor because it was on the medication label.
“After today, that will no longer happen,” the governor said at the bill signing.
Prosecutors in Louisiana said the girl experienced a medical emergency after taking the medication and had to be transported to the hospital. It is not clear how far along she was in her pregnancy. The girl's mother, who was also charged, turned herself in to police on Friday.
District Attorney Tony Clayton, the prosecutor in the Louisiana case, said the arrest warrant for Carpenter is “nationwide” and that she could face arrest in states with anti-abortion laws.
Louisiana has a near-total abortion ban. Physicians convicted of performing abortions, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.
Hochul said she would push for another piece of legislation this year that will require pharmacists to adhere to doctors' requests that their name is left off a prescription label.
Carpenter was previously sued by the attorney general of Texas for allegations of sending abortion pills to Texas, though that case did not involve criminal charges.
Pills have become the most common method of abortion in the U.S. and are at the center of various political and legal battles in the state-by-state patchwork of rules governing abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
AP writer Sara Cline contributed from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
FILE - Mifepristone tablets are seen in a Planned Parenthood clinic Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane crashed onto a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday, triggering a derailment that killed at least 32 people and injured dozens more.
The crash occurred in Nakhon Ratchasima, some 200 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of Bangkok, on a section of a planned high-speed rail project that is intended to eventually connect China with much of Southeast Asia.
The province's Public Health Provincial Office said there were 32 fatalities and 64 injured victims, including seven with severe injuries. There were still three passengers missing among the 171 believed to have been on board the train, it said in a statement issued as night fell.
Authorities said the crane was being used to build an elevated part of the railway when it fell as the train was traveling from the capital, Bangkok, to Ubon Ratchathani province. Thailand's Rail Transport Department said the crane was what is called a launching gantry crane, a self-supporting structure with vertical legs that usually runs on rails or wheels for mobility, allowing it to progress along with the construction project that it straddles. Such cranes are often used to help build elevated roads.
Images published in Thai media showed plumes of white, then dark, smoke rising from the crash site, with construction equipment dangling from girders between two concrete support pillars.
Rescue workers stood on top of overturned railway carriages, some of them with gaping holes torn on their sides, video from public broadcaster ThaiPBS showed. What appeared to be sections of the crane were scattered along the track.
Sixty-two year-old Samai Teechantuek, whose house is about 100 meters (yards) from the site of the accident, told The Associated Press of the horror of witnessing the accident, and hearing “the noises screeching, and then bam, bam, bam, all the way over there.”
“When the dust settled, I saw the top of the train carriage. I heard people shouting ‘save the children first!’” she said. "A conductor pulled people out. I saw them pulling many people out. People from the shop over there also ran out to help.”
“My legs were shaking. I was standing there shaking. I didn’t dare going any closer,” she said.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he ordered an investigation.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers. Days of heavy rainfall were believed to have been a factor in the collapse.
The elevated segment that collapsed is a part of a Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project linking the capital to the northeastern province of Nong Khai, bordering Laos. The two-stage rail project has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($16.8 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. The section where the accident took place had a budget of more than 179 billion baht ($5.7 billion) and according to its original plans was expected to start operating in 2027.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project's contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision. He said he ordered the contractor to suspend operations at the site until the investigation of the accident is completed.
Anan said authorities will examine the responsibilities of both parties, and the Railway Department plans to take legal action against the contractor as a first step. Damage to the train was estimated to be more than 100 million baht ($3.2 million), while construction equipment suffered limited damage, he said.
A statement posted on the company's website expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
The main contractor for the route's first stage between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, Italian-Thai Development, was also the directly responsible for construction of the segment where Wednesday's accident occurred.
The rail accident sparked outrage because the company, also known as Italthai, was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in the Thai capital Bangkok, which collapsed during construction in March during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, which was the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai's and Chinese companies' involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, had occurred.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was interior minister when the State Audit Building collapsed, said that the Comptroller General’s Department and Transport Ministry are responsible for blacklisting contractors, and the laws could not be amended in the brief time he was interior minister to expedite the matter.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the government was aware of the reports about the accident and had expressed condolences.
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of projects and personnel, and we are also learning about the situation,” she said. “At present, it appears that the relevant section is being constructed by a Thai company, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.”
Wasamon reported from Bangkok.
The report has been corrected to identify Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning's gender as female.
A rescuer stands near the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amid the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
A rescuer stands near the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
An aid workers at the scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
The wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
This photo released from Thailand's Ministry of Transport, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Ministry of Transport via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo provided by State Railway of Thailand shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
