(Photo illustration by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas - A Texas man has filed an amended federal lawsuit in Galveston County that significantly reshapes, and escalates, his case against a California doctor accused of mailing abortion-inducing pills into the state.
Texas man amends mailed abortion pills lawsuit
What we know:
Jerry Rodriguez’s original lawsuit, filed in the summer of 2025 in a federal court, alleged that Dr. Remy Coeytaux shipped abortion medication to Rodriguez’s girlfriend at the direction of her estranged husband, resulting in the termination of a pregnancy in September 2024.
Rodriguez argued that the case could test the limits of abortion "shield laws" designed to protect out-of-state providers.
The core lawsuit remains intact as Rodriguez continues to argue that shipping abortion pills into Texas violates state and federal law and constitutes wrongful death. The lawsuit still names Coeytaux as the sole defendant and continues to frame the case as a challenge to cross-state abortion enforcement.
Texas man sues California doctor who shipped abortion pills to girlfriend
A Galveston County man filed a federal lawsuit claiming a California doctor shipped abortion-inducing pills to his girlfriend at the direction of her estranged husband.
New allegations
Dig deeper:
The newly filed amended complaint keeps those core allegations but makes several notable changes.
(Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
Class action claim dropped
One of the most significant changes is that Rodriguez is no longer seeking to represent a nationwide class of "all current and future fathers of unborn children in the United States."
The amended lawsuit removes the class-action request entirely, narrowing the case to Rodriguez’s individual claims.
2025 abortion allegations
While the first filing mentioned a second pregnancy, the amended lawsuit lays out more detailed allegations surrounding the alleged second abortion in Jan. 2025. According to the filing, Rodriguez and the woman attended a medical appointment together and received sonogram images before the pregnancy was terminated using abortion pills that were allegedly supplied by the estranged husband.
FILE - A woman getting an ultrasound. (JASPER JACOBS/AFP via Getty Images)
The amended complaint includes new claims that the abortion occurred at the estranged husband’s home and adds details that Rodriguez says were shared with him afterward.
Challenging California abortion shield laws
The amended lawsuit also adds a new claim targeting California’s abortion shield law. Rodriguez asks the Texas federal court to issue an injunction preventing Coeytaux from suing him or his attorneys under California law, which allows abortion providers to seek damages against parties who bring certain abortion-related lawsuits.
Rodriguez argues that California’s law could be used to retaliate against him for pursuing the case in Texas and asks the court to block any such action in advance.
Impact of Texas HB 7
Big picture view:
The Texas Legislature recently passed a law directly tied to the legal theories in Rodriguez’s amended complaint.
House Bill 7, also called the Woman and Child Protection Act, was enacted in 2025 with the specific goal of targeting abortion-inducing medication, including pills mailed into Texas from other states. Under the law, which went into effect Dec. 4, 2025, private citizens can sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails, or provides abortion pills into Texas for at least $100,000 in damages per violation, even if those actions are legal where they occur.
The law explicitly authorizes qui tam actions and makes out-of-state legal defenses, such as California’s shield laws, insufficient in Texas courts unless federal or constitutional law requires it.
New Texas law restricting mailed abortion pills takes effect soon
A new Texas law taking effect that restricts the mailing of abortion-inducing medication from out-of-state providers and allows for civil lawsuits against violators, drawing strong criticism from physicians.
Rodriguez’s amended federal lawsuit leans on this new legal landscape. His attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, was key in the writing of Texas’ abortion ban, and is representing him in this case against the California doctor.
More potential legal action
What's next:
While the damages request still exceeds $75,000, the amended filing also signals that drug manufacturers or distributors could be added as defendants later if they are identified.
The case remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The Source: Information on the federal lawsuit comes from court documents filed in the Southern District of Texas.