Summary

Summary

In September 2025, Texas passed a new abortion law: House Bill 7 (HB7). This law states that anyone can sue someone who allegedly manufactures, distributes, provides, or mails medication abortion into Texas for at least $100,000. HB7 is a bounty hunter law, incentivizing private citizens to police the actions of Texans, doctors, and others.

The law went into effect on December 4, 2025. On February 1, 2026, a California physician became the first person sued under it. The HB 7 claim against the doctor has been added to an existing lawsuit filed in July, which accuses him of “wrongful death” by purportedly violating various state abortion laws, as well as the federal Comstock Act. The Center for Reproductive Rights is defending him.

About the case

About the case

This lawsuit was brought on behalf of a disgruntled Texas man who claims that a California doctor allegedly prescribed abortion pills supposedly taken by his prior sexual partner. It is one of several cases brought on behalf of plaintiffs looking to legally harass their former partners, along with their partners’ friends and family, for allegedly seeking abortion care.

The original lawsuit was filed in federal court on July 20, accusing the doctor of allegedly violating Texas’s wrongful death statute and various state abortion laws. The lawsuit also claims the doctor violated the Comstock Act—a defunct law from the 1800’s that Project 2025 proposed using to ban abortion nationwide.

An amended complaint was filed in the case on February 1, 2026, adding a claim under HB7. While the plaintiff is not suing the doctor for monetary damages under HB 7 yet, he expresses his intent to do so if he is able to uncover evidence of an alleged violation of HB 7 after the law took effect in December. Instead, the plaintiff is asking the court to block the doctor from mailing any abortion pills into Texas in the future. The plaintiff is also asking the court to block the doctor from countersuing under the “clawback” provision of California’s shield law.

About HB7

About HB7

HB7 is a law passed by the Texas legislature to attack access to medication abortion. Under HB7, anyone who allegedly manufactures, distributes, mails, or provides medication abortion pills into Texas is at risk of being sued—from a doctor who provides their patient with medication to the pharmaceutical company that manufactures it. This bounty-hunter law is trying to encourage Texans to spy and report on each other, incentivizing private citizens to police people just doing their jobs. Though a pregnant individual themselves cannot be sued under HB7, it aims to keep them from getting the care they need.

This is part of a coordinated national strategy to make abortion pills inaccessible to women and communities in need. There are currently multiple cases in the Supreme Court pipeline that aim to rescind FDA approval of mifepristone nationwide or make it much harder to get abortion pills. The FDA itself has launched a politically driven investigation of the drug, despite its 25-year safety record.

Officials in states with abortion bans also are teeing up challenges to other states’ shield laws, hoping to give courts the opportunity to strike down these laws that protect doctors who mail abortion pills outside their state. California Governor Newsom recently denied an extradition request from Louisiana’s Attorney General, who is going after the same California doctor being sued in Texas.

Case details Related stories Timeline Legal documents