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A Texas man has filed a landmark federal wrongful dying lawsuit towards a California abortion supplier, alleging the doctor “murdered” his unborn kids by mailing abortion tablets throughout state strains.
The case, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, marks the primary of its variety to check how far pro-life litigants can go to sidestep blue state abortion protect legal guidelines utilizing century-old federal statutes and Texas civil code.
Filed July 20 within the Southern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of aiding unlawful self-managed abortions in 2024, by mailing abortion-inducing medicine to Galveston County, Texas, the place they have been allegedly used to finish two pregnancies.
Plaintiff Jerry Rodriguez claims his girlfriend’s estranged husband bought the tablets from Coeytaux via a Venmo transaction and pressured her to take them, ending two pregnancies Rodriguez says have been his.
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An ultrasound picture from Jan. 18, 2025, allegedly exhibits Jerry Rodriguez’s unborn son. Filed as Exhibit 2 in Rodriguez v. Coeytaux within the Southern District of Texas. (Picture filed in U.S. District Court docket, Southern District of Texas)
On the coronary heart of the swimsuit is an alleged $150 Venmo cost to “Remy Coeytaux MD PC” labeled “Aed axes,” adopted by his girlfriend’s identify. The lawsuit states Rodriguez interprets “Aed axes” to be a phonetic spelling of “Help Entry,” a community that helps ladies get hold of abortion tablets.
Rodriguez alleges the primary abortion occurred in September 2024, on the residence of his girlfriend’s mom, and the second in January 2025, on the residence of her estranged husband. Ultrasound photos from January, connected as Exhibit 2, are supplied as proof of a second being pregnant. In accordance with the grievance, the child was a boy.
Rodriguez is looking for over $75,000 in damages, certification of a nationwide class of “fathers of unborn kids,” and a everlasting injunction barring Coeytaux from mailing abortion medicine in violation of state or federal legislation.
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Mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol, are two medicine utilized in a medicine abortion. (Robyn Beck/AFP through Getty Photos)
The grievance’s authorized basis has drawn consideration. The lawsuit revives the long-dormant Comstock Act, an 1873 federal anti-obscenity legislation banning the mailing of abortion-related supplies. Although unenforced for over a century, the Comstock Act stays on the books.
Jonathan Mitchell, the lawyer behind Texas’s heartbeat legislation (SB8), represents Rodriguez within the case. He argues that Dr. Remy Coeytaux violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461 and 1462, the federal Comstock Act, by knowingly utilizing the mail to ship abortion-inducing medicine from California to Texas.
The swimsuit additionally alleges Coeytaux dedicated felony homicide beneath Texas Penal Code § 19.02 by knowingly aiding an unlawful abortion. It cites a number of violations of Texas legislation, together with statutes that require abortion medicine to be administered solely by in-state physicians, after knowledgeable consent and a compulsory ultrasound, and solely at licensed abortion services. Coeytaux, who just isn’t licensed in Texas, allegedly met none of these necessities.
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Individuals for and towards abortion reveal earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert/The Washington Submit through Getty Photos)
The case is already being seen as a strategic take a look at of blue state abortion protect legal guidelines. States like California, New York, and Washington have handed measures to guard their abortion suppliers from authorized dangers when treating out-of-state sufferers.
However Rodriguez’s authorized group prevented these roadblocks by submitting a civil wrongful dying swimsuit straight in federal courtroom, a transfer some authorized students say might supply a brand new route for anti-abortion plaintiffs to succeed in suppliers past their very own state’s borders.
As of Friday, courtroom data present Coeytaux had not filed a response to the grievance, and he has not made any public statements concerning the case.
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Professional-abortion teams are anticipated to contest each the interpretation of the Comstock Act and the standing of personal residents to convey wrongful dying claims tied to out-of-state telehealth prescriptions.
If the case survives early procedural hurdles, it could supply a brand new template for pro-life litigants to focus on the availability chain of abortion tablets three years after Dobbs was determined on the Supreme Court docket.
Coeytaux didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.
