Texas Man Sues Doctor For Allegedly Supplying Abortion Pills To Girlfriend

A Texas man has revenge a national wrongful decease suit against a expert who, he says, supplied abortion pills to his girlfriend.

In nan lawsuit, which was revenge successful Texas connected Sunday, Jerry Rodriguez alleges that nan doctor, Remy Coeytaux, mailed nan pills to Texas, wherever virtually each abortions are outlawed. Rodriguez’s woman past allegedly utilized nan pills to extremity 2 pregnancies.

Coeytaux not only collapsed a bid of Texas anti-abortion laws, nan suit alleges, but besides a 19th-century national anti-vice rule known arsenic nan Comstock Act. That enactment bans nan mailing of abortion-related materials, but has been unenforced for decades, its scope narrowed by laws and tribunal rulings – including Roe v Wade, which has since been overturned – that came into effect successful nan 20th century.

“Assisting a self-managed abortion successful Texas is an enactment of murder,” nan suit alleges. Although Rodriguez’s girlfriend, nan suit continued, “cannot beryllium charged pinch execution for her domiciled successful sidesplitting her unborn child, immunity does not shield Coeytaux from liability for aiding aliases abetting aliases straight participating successful nan murder”.

Rodriguez is seeking damages against Coeytaux arsenic good arsenic an injunction that would forbid Coeytaux from mailing abortion pills crossed authorities lines. Rodriguez wants that injunction, he said successful his lawsuit, “on behalf of a people of each existent and early fathers of unborn children successful nan United States”.

Rodriguez besides claims nan injunction is necessary because his woman is allegedly pregnant again, and he fears her hubby – from whom she is separated – whitethorn impulse her to person different abortion. His girlfriend’s erstwhile abortions were besides astatine her estranged husband’s convincing, according to Rodriguez’s lawsuit.

This suit marks nan latest effort by anti-abortion activists to target nan mailing of abortion pills, which person go a awesome avenue of abortion access successful nan 3 years since nan US ultimate tribunal overturned Roe, and to revive enforcement of nan Comstock Act. In December, Texas sued Margaret Carpenter, a New York doctor, complete allegations that she violated Texas rule by mailing abortion pills to a Texas woman. In January, a Louisiana expansive assemblage criminally indicted Carpenter complete accusations that she mailed a pill to that state, too.

Anti-abortion activists’ person been urging men who are angry astir their female partners’ abortions to travel guardant and motorboat litigation.

However, because nan Carpenter lawsuit was yet revenge by nan agency of Ken Paxton, nan Texas Republican lawyer general, experts judge it whitethorn beryllium fatally hobbled by a quirk of US law law. Mary Ziegler, a University of California, Davis rule schoolhouse professor who studies nan ineligible history of reproduction, has told the Guardian that while nan US constitution forces states to admit fines levied successful lawsuits betwixt people, it does not needfully do nan aforesaid for fines that consequence from lawsuits that person been brought by states.

Because Rodriguez is suing arsenic an individual, his suit whitethorn sidestep that hurdle.

Coeytaux declined to remark connected nan litigation.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Coeytaux is based successful California, wherever abortion remains legal, and which has a “shield law” successful spot to protect abortion providers who message abortion pills crossed authorities lines. They person ne'er been put to nan trial successful court.

Rodriguez is being represented successful his suit by Jonathan Mitchell, an lawyer who masterminded a six-week abortion prohibition that went into effect successful Texas successful 2021. Although Roe was still nan rule of nan onshore erstwhile nan prohibition took effect, it withstood ineligible scrutiny because of its unsocial design: alternatively than being enforced by nan state, it deputized group to writer 1 different complete suspected forbidden abortions.