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BATON ROUGE, La. — <\/span>Louisiana pushed Tuesday to extradite a California doctor accused of mailing abortion pills<\/a>, setting up a likely test of laws designed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide.<\/p>\n This is the second time Louisiana has pursued an out-of-state doctor under its abortion restrictions, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry saying on social media that he wants to bring the abortion provider \u201cto justice.\u201d The two criminal cases pit Louisiana, which has some of the strictest abortion laws<\/a> in the country, against jurisdictions that have enacted what are known as shield laws<\/a> for providers who facilitate abortions from afar in states with bans.<\/p>\n \u201cLouisiana has a zero tolerance policy for those who subvert our laws, seek to hurt women, and promote abortion,\u201d Landry said in a post X announcing he’d sent the extradition paperwork. California Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment<\/p>\n Remy Coeytaux, a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, faces a criminal charge of abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Tuesday. If convicted, the doctor could face up to 50 years in jail and fines, Murrill said.<\/p>\n An email and a telephone message seeking comment were left for Coeytaux.<\/p>\n According to court documents, he is accused of mailing mifepristone and misoprostol in 2023 to a Louisiana woman who sought the medication through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service. The woman took the pills in combination to end her pregnancy, investigators wrote in the indictment, which says authorities confirmed Coeytaux as the sender.<\/p>\n Murrill told The Associated Press she believes this \u201cis not the only time he sent abortion pills into our state\u201d and that \u201cit probably won’t be the last time we will indict him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group that is representing Coeytaux against civil charges, stressed that the criminal charge in Louisiana is an allegation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we can\u2019t comment on this matter itself, one thing is clear \u2014 the state of Louisiana is going after doctors for allegedly harming women, yet they are enforcing an abortion ban that puts women\u2019s lives at risk every day,\u201d Nancy Northup, president of the group, said in a written statement.<\/p>\n Coeytaux is also the subject of a separate federal lawsuit filed in July in Texas, where a man alleges the doctor illegally provided abortion medication to his girlfriend.<\/p>\n Medication abortion has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 2000. Louisiana bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest<\/a>. Physicians convicted of providing abortions face up to 15 years in prison and $200,000 in fines. Last year, state lawmakers passed additional restrictions targeting out-of-state prescribers<\/a> and reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances<\/a>.<\/p>\n