--- description: Find out why Margaret Carpenter is on the TIME100 Health 2026 list. title: TIME100 Health: Margaret Carpenter image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2af5de678735644/6998ce53a97fc018caa75299/T100-Health-2026-Carpenter.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 11, 2026 # Margaret Carpenter Prescribing access by [Dominique Mosbergen](/author/dominique-mosbergen/) ## Dominique Mosbergen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Health correspondent  Courtesy of Lindsey Wolkowicz Dr. Margaret Carpenter co-founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT) after the overturning of _Roe v. Wade_ to help women across the U.S. access abortion care. The group provides clinicians with legal and technical support to enable them to provide abortion care via telehealth—which makes up about 27% of abortions nationwide—to people in all 50 states. On Jan. 31, 2025, Carpenter, a New York-based physician, became the first U.S. doctor to be criminally charged for providing abortion pills across state lines after a Louisiana grand jury indicted her for alleged “criminal abortion.” About a month earlier, she had been sued by Texas’ attorney general for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a woman in the state. But, Carpenter has so far avoided arrest and other penalties thanks to a New York “shield law” that protects providers who offer out-of-state abortions, and ACT’s work continues. “\[Most people in the U.S.\] believe what a woman does with a pregnancy should be between her and her provider, not decided by politicians or judges,” Carpenter says. “Until this freedom becomes a reality for everyone around the world, there is more work to be done.” TIME100 Health: Margaret Carpenter ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362593/margaret-carpenter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362593/margaret-carpenter/"},"headline":"Margaret Carpenter","datePublished":"2026-02-11T13:01:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:07:07.693Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362593/margaret-carpenter/","keywords":["TIME100 Health 2026","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2af5de678735644/6998ce53a97fc018caa75299/T100-Health-2026-Carpenter.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dominique Mosbergen","jobTitle":"Health correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/dominique-mosbergen/"}],"creator":"Dominique Mosbergen","articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2af5de678735644/6998ce53a97fc018caa75299/T100-Health-2026-Carpenter.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-health-2026/","name":"TIME100 Health 2026"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362593/margaret-carpenter/","name":"Margaret Carpenter"}}]}] ```