Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) denounced Louisiana for targeting a California doctor charged with illegally sending abortion pills to the state.
He told Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to “go f*** yourself” after she sought to have doctors in California and New York, accused of mailing abortion drugs across state lines in violation of Louisiana laws, extradited to Louisiana to face charges. Both California doctor Remy Coeytaux and New York doctor Margaret Carpenter have been indicted on felony charges in Louisiana.
“Louisiana plans to sue me because I won’t extradite a doctor for providing an abortion. @AGLizMurrill: Go f*** yourself. California will never help you criminalize healthcare,” Newsom said in a post to X.
The California governor’s fiery statement provoked a swift reaction from Murrill, a Republican.
“Bless your heart, @GavinNewsom. Killing Louisiana babies isn’t healthcare, nor is shielding California drug dealers. The sovereign State of Louisiana will defend life. See ya soon,” she responded.
Murrill is a co-plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration that centers on Coeytaux. Lead plaintiff Rosalie Markezich alleges her boyfriend at the time used her email address to order abortion drugs from Coeytaux and pressured her into taking the pills. The lawsuit ultimately seeks to require in-person doctors’ visits to obtain abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Louisiana issued an arrest warrant for Coeytaux in 2024, and he was indicted on Jan. 8 in St. Tammany Parish.
“This is not healthcare; it’s drug dealing. 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,” Murrill said after Coeytaux was indicted.
California isn’t alone in resisting Murrill’s effort to pursue charges against doctors accused of prescribing abortion drugs to women in Louisiana in violation of state law. Democrats Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James of New York have also resisted Murrill’s attempt to see Carpenter extradited to Louisiana to face charges. A West Baton Rouge Parish grand jury indicted the New York doctor last year for providing pills to a Port Allen woman for her pregnant daughter, who was a minor at the time.
James blasted Murrill’s belief that abortion is not healthcare in response to Carpenter’s indictment.
“Abortion care is health care. The criminalization of abortion care is a direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom. This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American. We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it,” she said.
But Murrill responded by vowing to sue the state.
TRUMP ENDORSES POTENTIAL CASSIDY CHALLENGER IN LOUISIANA SENATE RACE
“Kathy Hochul and Gavin Newsom are not above the Constitution, and we will hold them accountable. The Supreme Court’s precedents on important Constitutional provisions like the Extradition Clause and the Full Faith and Credit Clause forbid this assault on Louisiana’s sovereignty and her citizens,” she said in a statement this week.
Murrill says “shield laws,” including those in New York and California, that protect doctors prescribing abortion medication from liability in states that have restricted abortion access, make it harder to sue or prosecute. Last summer, she joined over a dozen attorneys general in urging Congress “to assess the constitutional authority it may have to preempt shield laws.” She says that data from abortion rights groups show that around 900 abortions still take place each month in Louisiana, despite the state’s tight restrictions on abortions.