Sacramento, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said his state will refuse a request from Louisiana to extradite a California-based doctor indicted for allegedly mailing abortion pills into the southern state, escalating a growing legal clash between states over abortion enforcement.
“Louisiana’s request is denied,” Newsom said in a statement, arguing that California will not allow officials from other states to punish doctors for providing reproductive health care services that are legal under California law. The decision centers on Dr. Remy Coeytaux, who Louisiana authorities accuse of mailing abortion-inducing medication to a woman in Louisiana in October 2023 through Aid Access, an organization that provides abortion pills by mail across the United States.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Wednesday that her office had formally sought Coeytaux’s extradition, citing the state’s near-total abortion ban. Under Louisiana law, Coeytaux is charged with violating a statute prohibiting “criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs,” an offense that can carry steep fines and up to 50 years of hard labor if convicted.
California officials point to the state’s abortion “shield law,” enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which is designed to block out-of-state prosecutions and extradition requests targeting abortion providers. Similar shield laws exist in several Democratic-led states.
Murrill criticized California’s refusal, accusing state leaders of protecting conduct she described as illegal and unethical. However, records released by her office do not show that the Louisiana woman involved alleged coercion. Louisiana has previously sought the extradition of abortion providers in other states, including New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul also rejected the request.
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