Louisiana issued a warrant for a California-based doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to the red state, court records filed earlier this month show.
The warrant is part of a burgeoning effort by anti-abortion activists and red states to target telemedicine abortion, which now accounts for one in four US abortions, and abortion providers who ship pills across state lines. These providers operate out of blue states, like California, that have enacted “shield laws” that aim to protect abortion providers from out-of-state prosecution.
The 2024 warrant for the doctor remains outstanding, according to the documents, which were filed as part of Louisiana’s effort to join a federal lawsuit that seeks to limit access to the common abortion pill mifepristone. Louisiana bans virtually all abortions.
In a declaration filed to the court, a Louisiana woman named Rosalie Markezich said that when she learned she was pregnant in 2023, she decided to continue her pregnancy. But her then boyfriend used her email and mailing address to order mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol – which is typically used in US medication abortions – from Dr Remy Coeytaux.
In its own filing, Louisiana does not explicitly name Coeytaux as the target of its warrant, but says it is for the arrest of “the California-based doctor from whom Rosalie’s boyfriend ordered the abortion drugs”.
During a drive with her boyfriend, Markezich insisted that she wanted to keep the pregnancy, her declaration alleges. He began shouting at her and, fearful of her safety, Markezich decided to take the pills with the plan of throwing them up later on. She was unable to vomit and, soon after taking the pills, started to bleed.
“Had the FDA required an in-person visit with a doctor before dispensing the drugs, my boyfriend would never have been able to obtain the drugs that he made me take,” Markezich said. “I also would have told the doctor that I did not want to take them. And I would have told the doctor that I wanted to keep my baby.”
A spokesperson for Coeytaux declined to comment on the Louisiana warrant, which was reported last week by Abortion Every Day. In a statement, Liz Murrill, the Louisiana attorney general, suggested she hoped the Trump administration would roll back rules that expanded access to telemedicine abortion.
“Rosalie is bravely representing many women who are victimized by the illegal, immoral and unethical conduct of these drug dealers,” Murrill said. A spokesperson for Murrill didn’t immediately respond to questions about what charges Coeytaux may be facing.
Coeytaux has already been at the center of several anti-abortion legal filings. In July, a Texas man sued Coeytaux for allegedly supplying abortion pills to his girlfriend. Then, in August, Texas sent a cease-and-desist to Coeytaux. Texas law prohibits nearly all abortions.
Texas and Louisiana have also gone after Dr Margaret Carpenter, a New York-based doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to people in both states. Louisiana has indicted Carpenter, while Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, sued her in civil court. After a New York county clerk refused to enforce a court’s fine against Carpenter, citing the state’s shield law, Paxton sued the clerk. In return, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, announced she would formally intervene to defend New York’s shield law.
Legal experts widely expect the US supreme court to ultimately step in to adjudicate legal clashes between states that ban abortion and those that protect the procedure.
