Texas Man Uses New Anti-Abortion ‘Bounty Hunter’ Law to Cash in Against California Doctor
Texas’ latest anti-abortion law is officially being tested in courts for the first time after a prominent anti-abortion attorney used it to amend an existing lawsuit against a California-based doctor for allegedly mailing abortion pills into the state.
House Bill 7, ironically titled the Woman and Child Protection Act, was enacted in December and is Texas’ attempt to completely eliminate telehealth abortions. Known as a “bounty hunter law,” it allows private citizens to sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, mails, transports, delivers, prescribes, or provides” abortion pills to someone in Texas, for $100,000. It’s also considered a direct attack on shield laws, and “sue anyone” includes abortion pill manufacturers.
Last week, Jonathan Mitchell—one of the architects of the state’s total abortion ban—filed a revised lawsuit against Dr. Remy Coeytaux on behalf of Jerry Rodriguez, who first sued the doctor in July for allegedly sending abortion pills to his partner, which she used to end her pregnancy (at the direction of her ex-husband). In his updated claim, Rodriguez accuses Coeytaux of violating the new law, even though the alleged abortion took place before HB 7 passed. The lawsuit still accuses Coeytaux of “wrongful death” and of violating the Comstock Act.
Rodriguez is seeking $75,000 minimum in damages from Coeytaux, plus fees. Worse, if discovery finds that Coeytaux has continued to send abortion pills into Texas, he wants $100,000 for every violation.
Per data collected by the Society of Family Planning, telehealth abortions accounted for 27% of abortions in the first half of 2025. This is due, in no small part, to shield laws that protect doctors and healthcare providers from prosecution if they send abortion pills into abortion-banned states.
Ultimately, Rodriguez’s amended lawsuit is trying to target California’s shield law. “I certainly think this is another attempt to try and create a test case, or an opportunity, to challenge the validity of another state’s shield law,” Autumn Katz, interim litigation director at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CFRR), explains.“HB 7 has a provision that basically tries to nullify or invalidate that specific part of California’s shield law.”
Coeytaux is also under an ongoing extradition order from Louisiana’s Attorney General Liz Murrill (R), who in January accused him of being a “drug dealer” for continuing to allegedly mail abortion pills into her state.
“This law is one of many meant to cut off access to abortion pills, which are a lifeline for women in post-Roe America,” CFRR President and CEO Nancy Northup said in a statement. “The anti-abortion movement is trying everything possible to have mifepristone taken off the market nationwide or become much harder to get.”