California doctor indicted in Louisiana for sending abortion pills

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(The Center Square) − Louisiana has indicted a California physician with allegedly sending abortion pills to the state and is seeking his return to face charges, Attorney General Liz Murrill said Tuesday. 

Murrill has requested the extradition of Dr. Remy Coeytaux of Healdsburg, California to face a felony charge of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. The Center Square was unsuccessful getting comment from Coeytaux prior to publication.

Gov. Jeff Landry said he will sign the extradition request. Representatives for California Gov. Gavin Newsom could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The request comes nearly a year after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul blocked Louisiana's pursuit of Dr. Margaret Carpenter, charged with prescribing abortion pills online to a mother seeking them for her daughter, a minor who was pregnant. 

In the case against Coeytaux, prosecutors allege he “knowingly” caused an abortion by delivering or providing abortion-inducing drugs in St. Tammany Parish. The penalties include fines and up to 50 years in prison. 

The two cases highlight an interstate showdown in the years following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

While some Republican-led states, including Louisiana, forbid most abortions, Democrat-led states have passed "shield laws" that add privacy and legal protections for providers who prescribe abortion pills online and send them to patients in states with bans.

In California, Newsom signed a measure allowing providers to prescribe abortion medication anonymously, a step his administration said was aimed at protecting patient privacy and providers amid out-of-state legal threats.

Murrill, a Republican, wants to "pursue some relief" at the Supreme Court, a campaign that gained momentum among conservatives after the Federal Drug Administration in October approved another generic version of mifepristone, a medication used in abortion pills. 

"FDA had promised to do a top-to-bottom safety review of the chemical abortion drug, but instead they've just greenlighted new versions of it for distribution," U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, wrote on X. "I have lost confidence in the leadership at FDA."