I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana, not now, not ever,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

Louisiana’s attorney general is seeking to extradite a New York doctor who prescribed and sent abortion medication through the mail to a resident of the Pelican State, escalating a legal battle surrounding the doctor that could test the limits of state abortion shield laws.

Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke out after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed an extradition warrant for a New York doctor indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online.

A New York doctor has been indicted in Louisiana on felony charges for allegedly providing an abortion across state lines via mail. On January 31, a West

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill tweeted that her office has now signed off on the extradition request to Landry and awaits his approval.

New York enacted its telehealth abortion shield law in 2023, one year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The law bans local law enforcement from sharing information with other states and prohibits the governor from agreeing to hand over doctors who are accused of breaking other states’ abortion laws.

Society / New York’s shield law was designed to protect providers mailing medication abortion pills out of state. But a New York provider is facing legal action in Louisiana and Texas. Rachel Rebouché Can a doctor who lives in and practices medicine in the state of New York be fined by a Texas court for violating Texas’s abortion ban and licensure law,

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, and District Attorney of the 18th Judicial District Tony Clayton want a doctor from New York to face charges for allegedly sending abortion pills to a family in West Baton Rouge Parish.