BATON ROUGE, La., January 14, 2026: Louisiana officials are seeking the extradition of a California physician accused of illegally mailing abortion pills into the state in violation of state law.
Attorney General Liz Murrill announced on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, that Dr. Rémy Coeytaux, a physician based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been indicted in St. Tammany Parish on charges of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. Murrill said she has asked Governor Jeff Landry to approve an extradition warrant to bring Coeytaux to Louisiana to face prosecution.
If convicted under the statute cited in the indictment, Coeytaux could face up to 50 years in prison and fines.
“This is not health care; it is drug dealing,” Murrill said in a news release. “Individuals who flagrantly and intentionally violate our laws by sending illegal abortion pills into our state are placing women in danger. We have seen proof of that, with women showing up in emergency rooms after taking these pills and being coerced into abortions.”
The indictment, handed down on January 8 in St. Tammany Parish, followed an arrest warrant issued in May 2024. According to court documents, Coeytaux is accused of mailing mifepristone and misoprostol in October 2023 to a Louisiana woman who sought the medication through Aid Access, an Austria-based online telemedicine service that ships medication to the United States.
Investigators wrote that the woman took the pills in combination to end her pregnancy and that authorities confirmed Coeytaux as the sender.
Coeytaux did not immediately respond to messages left at his office phone number. An email seeking comment was answered by a representative of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Coeytaux in a separate civil lawsuit.
In 2024, Louisiana lawmakers reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances. Louisiana became the first state to impose criminal penalties for handling these medications without proper authorization.
These medications are the most commonly prescribed drugs for abortion but also have other recognized medical uses. Medication abortion has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 2000.
Louisiana bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Physicians convicted of providing abortions under other provisions of state law can face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $200,000.
This is the second time Louisiana has pursued criminal charges against an out-of-state physician for prescribing abortion medication. Last year, a West Baton Rouge Parish grand jury indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New York for providing abortion pills to a Port Allen woman for her pregnant daughter, who was a minor at the time.
Louisiana sought Carpenter’s extradition, but New York Governor Kathy Hochul refused, citing her state’s shield laws. New York and California are among some states with such protections that supports abortion rights. That case was widely viewed as one of the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which opened the door for states to enact strict anti-abortion laws.
Coeytaux is also named in a separate federal lawsuit filed in July in Texas. The lead plaintiff, Rosalie Markezich, alleged that her boyfriend at the time ordered abortion drugs from an out-of-state doctor in October 2023 using her email address and pressured her to take the medication. She said she was unable to regurgitate the pills after taking them.
Murrill is a co-plaintiff in that lawsuit, which seeks to require in-person doctor visits to obtain mifepristone and misoprostol and challenged the FDA’s approval and distribution rules for the drugs.
Murrill told The Associated Press that she believes Coeytaux has sent abortion pills into Louisiana more than once and that additional indictments are possible.
The Center for Reproductive Rights emphasized that the Louisiana charge remains an allegation.
“These allegations are just that, allegations, and they are unproven,” said Nancy Northup, the organization’s president and CEO, in a statement. “While we cannot comment on this matter itself, one thing is clear: the state of Louisiana is going after doctors for allegedly harming women, while enforcing an abortion ban that puts women’s lives at risk every day.”
Northup said abortion pills are widely used and safe, including when provided through telehealth, and added that thousands of women seek abortion medication by mail each year because abortion is banned in their state.
Governor Landry said on X that Louisiana has a zero-tolerance policy for those who subvert the law and seek to hurt women. He also said on social media that he wants to bring abortion providers who violate state law to justice.
(Rh/VK)