By admin 
Republican candidate Steve Hilton said Friday he would not seek to extradite a California doctor charged with violating Louisiana’s abortion laws if were elected governor, reversing a stance he took during the primary.
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In an appearance on Southern California radio host Jennifer Horn’s show “The Morning Answer,” Hilton said the doctor, Rémy Coeytaux, who is charged with providing abortion pills to a Louisiana resident in 2023, did not violate California law and is protected by state statute designed to shield abortion providers from out-of-state prosecutions.
“I think that the clear decision for me would be that whatever one’s personal views on abortion, you wouldn’t actually extradite this doctor because the doctor hasn’t broken California laws,” Hilton said.
During the primary, the former Fox News host repeatedly made a different argument. He said that as governor, he would be obligated to honor each state’s laws, including Louisiana’s strict abortion code.
“This is not about abortion,” Hilton said in a May debate. “This about one state trying to undermine another state’s laws.”
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The Republican said he’d changed his stance after more carefully considering California’s laws. But Hilton’s shift is arguably the strongest signal he is attempting to broaden his appeal beyond the vastly outnumbered GOP base in California after a combative primary. A Public Policy Institute of California poll released in early July found Becerra leads Hilton 61% to 36% among likely voters.
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom refused Louisiana’s attempt to extradite Coeytaux, slamming “extremist politicians” for attempting the maneuver. Democrat Xavier Becerra, Hilton’s opponent in the general election, has echoed Newsom’s stance.
While Hilton previously called abortion an “awful outcome” in a January interview with KQED, he suggested Friday he would not seek to curtail the procedure.
“If there was someone sitting in front of me making these choices, I would not be telling a woman what to do,” Hilton said. “That’s just my personal — how I would handle it on a personal basis. And so you have to say, well, that then surely that should translate to how you would operate in any position of authority.”
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