Louisiana criminally charges California doctor for mailing abortion pills
Louisiana has issued a warrant for the arrest of a San Francisco-based doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to a patient—an act outlawed in the state in the wake of Roe v. Wade.
The warrant, issued for Remy Coeytaux, MD, represents the first of its kind in the post-Roe era, and is set to challenge conflicting state laws. In this case, California has a “shield law” in place that ensures healthcare providers are protected from arrest and interstate extradition.
Coeytaux was criminally charged on Sept. 19, with Louisiana prosecutors saying the pills were mailed to Rosalie Markezich in 2023. She has not been charged. Instead, she claims she was coerced into taking the abortion drugs by her boyfriend, who made contact with Coeytaux and paid for a prescription to mifepristone, a common early-term abortion drug.
According to court documents, she felt pressured into taking the drug and is haunted by the termination of her pregnancy.
Markezich also joined the state attorney general’s office in a lawsuit that seeks to force federal regulators to bar abortion drugs from being prescribed over telehealth visits, in addition to making it a criminal offense under federal law to mail mifepristone and similar drugs in its class.
The lawsuit contends that Markezich would never have had an abortion if it wasn’t permitted via telemedicine.
Coeytaux named in Texas lawsuit
As for Coeytaux, he faces no danger of arrest in California and has not commented on the pending charges. However, it remains to be seen what may happen if he visits a state without a shield law.
Notably, he is also named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in Texas, which seeks to bar doctors from mailing abortion pills under provisions of the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that bans the distribution of obscene material.
The incident anchoring the California doctor to that case is a claim brought by a man named Jerry Rodriguez, who said Coeytaux mailed his girlfriend abortion pills, in violation of Texas law.
As for the criminal charges, the indictment is sealed. However, under the Louisiana abortion ban, those put on trial face what are ostensibly murder accusations.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.