News

Jan 14, 2026

Governor Newsom rejects Louisiana's attempt to extradite California doctor for providing abortion care

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today rejected the State of Louisiana's request to extradite a California physician for providing medication abortion that is legal in California, citing his legal authority to deny the request.

"Louisiana's request is denied. My position on this has been clear since 2022: We will not allow extremist politicians from other states to reach into California and try to punish doctors based on allegations that they provided reproductive health care services. Not today. Not ever.

"We will never be complicit with Trump's war on women."

Governor Gavin Newsom

Consistent with Executive Order N-12-22, the Governor is declining this extradition request from another state that seeks to prosecute a person for providing, receiving, or assisting with reproductive health care that is legal in California. Federal and state law give Governor Newsom discretion to reject extradition requests in cases, like this one, where the alleged conduct occurred in California.

It is important to note that the charges filed in Louisiana, which are the basis of this extradition request, are merely allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

California's actions to protect reproductive freedoms

In the years since the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision, California has stepped up consistently to protect reproductive freedom, including:

• September 2025: Governor Newsom signed legislation to safeguard access to reproductive health care, including landmark bills like AB 260 (Cecilia Aguiar-Curry), offering health care providers the option to prescribe abortion care medication to patients anonymously, ensuring California-regulated health plans cover mifepristone regardless of FDA approval status, and strengthening protections for health care providers from criminal prosecution and other legal action for administering medication abortion drugs.
• June 2025: The 2025-26 budget expanded the authority of CalRx to purchase brand-name drugs. This change gives the state more tools to respond to supply chain disruptions, market manipulation, or politically motivated restrictions that could threaten access to essential medications — including medication used for abortion care.
• May 2024: Governor Newsom signed SB 233 (Aguiar-Curry, Skinner) with the Legislative Women's Caucus, allowing Arizona abortion providers to temporarily provide abortion care to patients from Arizona who travel to California for care following the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling to reimpose a regressive 1864 law imposing a near-total abortion ban in their state.
• January 2024: The Reproductive Freedom Alliance, led by Governor Newsom, filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, arguing that, if the Court allowed the Fifth Circuit's decision rejecting FDA's approval of mifepristone to stand, it would undermine Governors' ability to provide adequate healthcare services and would have far-reaching implications beyond reproductive healthcare. The Supreme Court sided with the FDA in June 2024.
• April 2023: Governor Newsom procured an emergency stockpile of misoprostol, a safe and effective medication abortion drug, as legal challenges continue to move through the courts in an attempt to block abortion medication.
• March 2023: Governor Newsom joined 13 other Governors in calling on major pharmacies to clarify plans for dispensing mifepristone and other actions they plan to take to safeguard access to reproductive health care drugs.
• February 2023: Governor Newsom launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a coalition of 23 Governors fighting together to protect and advance reproductive freedom.
• November 2022: Voters pass Governor Newsom and the Legislature's Proposition 1, an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom – including abortion care and contraception.
• September 2022:
  • Governor Newsom launched Abortion.CA.Gov to ensure people across California, and the country, can access essential information regarding reproductive health care, including resources available to support access to care.
  • Governor Newsom, working with the Legislature, ensured California passed the largest reproductive freedom bill package in state history, building firewalls around California as a reproductive freedom state.
• June 2022:
  • Governor Newsom signed legislation to help protect patients and providers in California against radical attempts by other states to extend their anti-abortion laws into California, on the same day Roe v. Wade was overturned.
  • California invested over $200 million in reproductive health care.
  • Issued an Executive Order protecting state-held data and information from being used by out-of-state anti-abortion entities to target providers and patients, and declining requests received from other states to extradite health care providers for providing reproductive health care services.
  • Joined the Governors of Oregon and Washington to launch a new Multi-State Commitment to defend access to reproductive health care and protect patients and providers.

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