The standoff sets California’s law shielding abortion providers from prosecution for treating out-of-state patients directly against Louisiana’s criminal abortion statutes — one of the strictest such legal regimes in the country — in what amounts to a direct test of whether anti-abortion states can reach across state lines to prosecute physicians.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he was blocking Louisiana’s attempt to extradite a Bay Area physician accused of mailing abortion pills to patients in that state, invoking a 2022 executive order that bars his administration’s agencies from cooperating with other states’ prosecutions of abortion providers.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, had sent extradition paperwork the day before, saying he wanted to bring the physician “to justice.” Newsom, a Democrat, said complying would have violated his executive order.
“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,” Newsom said in a statement. “Not today. Not ever.”
Landry’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Newsom’s announcement.
The charge and the physician
Louisiana was seeking to extradite Remy Coeytaux, a physician based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Tuesday that Coeytaux faced a criminal charge of abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs and risked spending up to 50 years in jail if convicted.
An email and a telephone message seeking comment from Coeytaux on Tuesday went unanswered.
Competing state laws
Louisiana has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country. California law, by contrast, aims to protect abortion providers from criminal prosecution for treating out-of-state patients.
Newsom signed the executive order in 2022, anticipating cross-state conflicts over abortion care. The order bars state agencies under his administration from assisting other states’ efforts to prosecute abortion providers.