Texas man sues California doctor in unprecedented abortion pill case over unborn child’s alleged ‘murder’

A Texas man has filed a landmark federal wrongful death lawsuit against a California abortion provider, alleging the physician “murdered” his unborn children by mailing abortion pills across state lines. 

The case, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, marks the first of its kind to test how far pro-life litigants can go to sidestep blue state abortion shield laws using century-old federal statutes and Texas civil code.

Filed July 20 in the Southern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of aiding illegal self-managed abortions in 2024, by mailing abortion-inducing drugs to Galveston County, Texas, where they were allegedly used to end two pregnancies. 

Plaintiff Jerry Rodriguez claims his girlfriend’s estranged husband purchased the pills from Coeytaux through a Venmo transaction and pressured her to take them, ending two pregnancies Rodriguez says were his.

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At the heart of the suit is an alleged $150 Venmo payment to “Remy Coeytaux MD PC” labeled “Aed axes,” followed by his girlfriend’s name. The lawsuit states Rodriguez interprets “Aed axes” to be a phonetic spelling of “Aid Access,” a network that helps women obtain abortion pills. 

Rodriguez alleges the first abortion occurred in September 2024, at the home of his girlfriend’s mother, and the second in January 2025, at the home of her estranged husband. Ultrasound images from January, attached as Exhibit 2, are offered as proof of a second pregnancy. According to the complaint, the baby was a boy.

Rodriguez is seeking over $75,000 in damages, certification of a national class of “fathers of unborn children,” and a permanent injunction barring Coeytaux from mailing abortion drugs in violation of state or federal law.

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The complaint’s legal foundation has drawn attention. The lawsuit revives the long-dormant Comstock Act, an 1873 federal anti-obscenity law banning the mailing of abortion-related materials. Though unenforced for over a century, the Comstock Act remains on the books. 

Jonathan Mitchell, the attorney behind Texas’s heartbeat law (SB8), represents Rodriguez in the case. He argues that Dr. Remy Coeytaux violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461 and 1462, the federal Comstock Act, by knowingly using the mail to send abortion-inducing drugs from California to Texas.

The suit also alleges Coeytaux committed felony murder under Texas Penal Code § 19.02 by knowingly aiding an illegal abortion. It cites multiple violations of Texas law, including statutes that require abortion drugs to be administered only by in-state physicians, after informed consent and a mandatory ultrasound, and only at licensed abortion facilities. Coeytaux, who is not licensed in Texas, allegedly met none of those requirements.

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The case is already being seen as a strategic test of blue state abortion shield laws. States like California, New York, and Washington have passed measures to protect their abortion providers from legal risks when treating out-of-state patients.

But Rodriguez’s legal team avoided those roadblocks by filing a civil wrongful death suit directly in federal court, a move some legal scholars say could offer a new route for anti-abortion plaintiffs to reach providers beyond their own state’s borders.

As of Friday, court records show Coeytaux had not filed a response to the complaint, and he has not made any public statements about the case. 

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Pro-abortion groups are expected to contest both the interpretation of the Comstock Act and the standing of private citizens to bring wrongful death claims tied to out-of-state telehealth prescriptions.

If the case survives early procedural hurdles, it may offer a new template for pro-life litigants to target the supply chain of abortion pills three years after Dobbs was decided at the Supreme Court.

Coeytaux did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.