Texas woman claiming she was tricked into abortion sues pill provider
The big picture: Anti-abortion attorneys general have targeted telemedicine service providers that send abortion pills to patients with the protection of "shield laws," like Aid Access, the Austrian-based group named in the lawsuit.
The woman is represented by former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell, a prominent anti-abortion attorney.
He previously has represented men who wanted to bring legal actions against people who facilitated their partners' abortion, per The Washington Post.
Driving the news: The wrongful-death suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleges that the man who impregnated the woman laced a hot chocolate he prepared for her with abortion pills he obtained from Aid Access, ending her pregnancy.
The woman argued in the complaint that the nonprofit and its founder were criminally responsible for the man's alleged violations of Texas code because "they knowingly aided his provision of abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant woman."
It also alleges the organization violated federal law by delivering the medication via the mail. It cites U.S. law that bans the mailing of materials deemed "obscene, lewd, lascivious," such as those related to abortion.
"Performing or assisting an illegal abortion in Texas is an act of murder," the lawsuit reads.
Zoom out: Aid Access, which did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment, says on its website that it has facilitated over 200,000 "online abortions" to women in the U.S. since it was founded in 2018.
Despite years of bans and restrictions on reproductive care, the number of abortions in the U.S. continued to rise in 2024, Axios' April Rubin reported.
Texas had the country's highest number of medication abortions via telehealth under shield law protections.
State of play: Texas law bans abortion in nearly all cases — with exceptions for when the mother's life or a major bodily function is at risk.
The lawsuit comes as a GOP lawmaker in the Lone Star State is reintroducing legislation that would allow lawsuits targeting the use of medication to end pregnancies, CBS News reported.
That proposal, per CBS, also takes aim at shield laws that safeguard clinicians offering telehealth abortion care to patients in states with restrictions.
Flashback: Texas has emerged as a hub for legal challenges to abortion pills.
Last month, a Texas man sued a California doctor who allegedly mailed his girlfriend abortion pills.
And earlier this year, a Texas judge ordered a doctor to pay a penalty of more than $100,000 and stop prescribing and sending abortion pills to patients in Texas under New York's shield law.
But a New York county clerk has refused to file judgment against the doctor, citing the New York state shield law, prompting legal action from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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