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 HB7 claim against the doctor was added to an existing lawsuit filed in July of 2025, 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.

This lawsuit is part of a broader effort to use Texas’s abortion laws to target health care providers. For more than a year, the case has moved forward without any evidence being presented to support the underlying allegations. Instead, the litigation has largely consisted of attempts to expand the claims and seek broad court orders that would undermine California’s shield law, which protects providers from out-of-state lawsuits.

The Center has challenged the lawsuit on multiple grounds, including that the law is unconstitutional, Mr. Rodriguez does not have the legal right to bring many of these claims, and that he is barred from suing under Texas’s HB7 because the law prohibits people that a court has found committed family violence from bringing those claims.

Rather than wait for the court to decide those issues, Mr. Rodriguez voluntarily dismissed the case on June 30, 2026. Just minutes later, a new lawsuit was filed that is nearly identical in almost every respect. The key difference is that Mr. Rodriguez’s adult daughter, Isabella Irene Rodriguez, is now the only person suing under HB7, while Mr. Rodriguez continues to pursue other claims. The timing and structure of the new filing appear intended to avoid the HB7 eligibility issue raised in the Center’s motion to dismiss. 

Although the names on the complaint have changed, the objective has not. The new lawsuit continues to seek court orders to test how far Texas can extend its draconian abortion laws beyond its own borders. 

About the case

About the case

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

The original lawsuit was amended on February 1, 2026, adding a claim under HB7. Mr. Rodriguez asked the court to block the doctor from mailing any abortion pills into Texas in the future. Mr. Rodriguez also asked the court to block the doctor from countersuing under the “clawback” provision of California’s shield law.

On April 16, 2026, the Center filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing thatMr. Rodriguez has no standing to sue on any of his claims. The Center also filed oppositions to his preliminary inunction request and his request for judgment on his claim for an anti-clawback injunction.

On June 8, 2026, Mr. Rodriguez filed a motion requesting permission from the court to file a second amended complaint. In direct response to the Center’s motion to dismiss, Mr. Rodriguez sought the court’s permission to add another plaintiff to the case; alleged that the defendant has mailed abortion pills into Texas since HB7 took effect on December 4, 2025 (without any specific details or facts to back up the allegation); and added a claim for at least $100,000 in money damages. The Center filed its opposition to the motion to amend on June 29, 2026. Just a day later, on June 30, 2026, Mr. Rodriguez voluntarily dismissed his entire case without prejudice. Minutes later, he filed a new, nearly identical lawsuit against the California doctor in the same court.

The new complaint is filed on behalf of Mr. Rodriguez and his daughter, Isabella Irene Rodriguez. In the new complaint, Mr. Rodriguez asserts a claim under Texas’ wrongful death statute, and Ms. Rodriguez asserts a claim under Texas HB7. On July 5 and July 6, 2026, the plaintiffs filed two motions: a motion for a preliminary injunction, and a motion asking the court to block the doctor from countersuing either Mr. Rodriguez or Ms. Rodriguez 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.

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