Newsom nixes Louisiana extradition for abortion doctor

SACRAMENTO – California Gov. Gavin Newsom has rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite a California physician for providing abortion medication that is legal in California.

Earlier this week, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office indicted Dr. Remy Coeytaux for allegedly trafficking illegal abortion pills in violation of Louisiana law.

Coeytaux was charged in St. Tammany Parish with Criminal Abortion by Means of Abortion-Inducing Drugs, a violation of state law. The crime carries the penalty of one to 50 years at hard labor and fines, depending on the circumstances. Coeytaux has been sued in Texas on similar charges.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry then signed an extradition request and sent it to Newsom’s office.

“Louisiana’s request is denied,” Newsom said in social media posts. “My position on this has been clear since 2022: 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.

“We will never be complicit with Trump’s war on women.” 

Newsom’s office also cited a 2022 executive order regarding such requests from other states to prosecute a person for providing, receiving or assisting with reproductive health care that is legal in California.

“I am signing the extradition paperwork to bring this California doctor to justice,” Landry wrote on social media. “Louisiana has a zero-tolerance policy for those who subvert our laws, seek to hurt women, and promote abortion.

“I know Gavin Newsom supports abortion in all its forms, but that doesn’t work in Louisiana. We are unapologetically pro-life.”

A criminal arrest warrant has been signed for Coeytaux, and his name has been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The warrant says Coeytaux can be found in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, California.

“This is not healthcare; it’s drug dealing,” Murrill said. “Individuals who flagrantly and intentionally violate our laws by sending illegal abortion pills into our state placing women in danger.

“We’ve seen the proof of that, with women showing up in emergency rooms after taking these pills and being coerced into abortions.”

According to the warrant, special agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation were assigned in March 2024 to investigate an abortion that took place in St. Tammany Parish.

The complainant, who said she learned she was pregnant in October 2023 and learned of the drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol, said she located a company called AidAccess, an Austria-based business that prescribes and ships said drugs throughout the United States. After completing the online forms, she said she was instructed to send a $150 payment via Venmo

Several days after sending payment, she said received Mifepristone and Misoprostol via the United States Postal Service at her residence, and she took the medication, causing the termination of her pregnancy.

With the postal tracking number of the package, the special agents were able to confirm that it was sent from Coeytaux from a post office box for a business in his name out of the same jurisdiction.