California will defy Louisiana's request to extradite a doctor indicted for mailing abortion pills into the southern state, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday. "Louisiana's request is denied," Newsom said in a statement. "We will not allow extremist politicians from other states to reach into California and try to punish doctors based on allegations that they provided reproductive health care services. Not today. Not ever."
Louisiana's attorney general, Liz Murrill, announced on Wednesday that her state would seek the extradition of Dr Remy Coeytaux. Law enforcement officials allege that Coeytaux, who is based in California, mailed pills to a woman in Louisiana in October 2023 through Aid Access, an organisation that mails abortion pills throughout the US, in defiance of Louisiana's near-total ban on abortion.
Aid Access providers operate under the protection of "shield laws", which aim to guard abortion providers from out-of-state extradition and prosecution. A handful of blue states, including California, passed shield laws following the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade – a development that has infuriated abortion opponents, who argue that shield laws are illegal.
"It's appalling to see the California governor and attorney general openly admitting that they will protect an individual from being held accountable for illegal, medically unethical and dangerous conduct that led to a woman being coerced into terminating the life of her unborn child," Murrill said in a statement. However, the documents released by Murrill's office do not indicate that the Louisiana woman who received pills from Coeytaux said she was coerced.
Coeytaux has been charged with violating a Louisiana statute that bans "criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs". If convicted, Coeytaux could face fines and up to 50 years of "hard labour". Louisiana has previously sought the extradition of a New York-based doctor, Margaret Carpenter, over similar allegations; New York's governor refused that extradition order.
