"Texas man files lawsuit against doctor for providing abortion medication to partner"

A Texas man has initiated a federal wrongful death lawsuit against a physician he claims provided abortion medication to his girlfriend.

The legal complaint, filed in Texas on Sunday, asserts that Dr. Remy Coeytaux sent the medication to the state, where nearly all abortions are prohibited. Rodriguez alleges his partner used the pills to terminate two pregnancies.

The lawsuit contends that Coeytaux not only violated multiple Texas abortion restrictions but also breached a 19th-century federal statute, the Comstock Act, which prohibits mailing materials related to abortion. Though largely unenforced for decades due to subsequent legal interpretations—including rulings like *Roe v. Wade*, since overturned—the lawsuit aims to revive its application.

“Assisting a self-managed abortion in Texas constitutes murder,” the filing argues. While Rodriguez’s partner “cannot face murder charges for her involvement in ending her pregnancies, immunity does not protect Coeytaux from responsibility for aiding or participating in the act,” it adds.

Rodriguez is pursuing financial compensation and a court order to prevent Coeytaux from mailing abortion medication across state lines. He stated in the lawsuit that he seeks this injunction “on behalf of all current and prospective fathers of unborn children in the U.S.”

The filing further alleges that his girlfriend is pregnant again and that her estranged husband might pressure her into another abortion—similar to previous instances, which Rodriguez claims were influenced by her husband.

This case represents the latest effort by abortion opponents to restrict access to abortion medication, a primary method of terminating pregnancies since the Supreme Court overturned *Roe v. Wade*. It also seeks to reinstate enforcement of the Comstock Act. Recently, Texas took legal action against Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New York, accusing her of violating state law by sending abortion pills to a Texas resident. Earlier this year, a Louisiana grand jury also indicted Carpenter for allegedly mailing medication to the state.

Some groups opposed to abortion have encouraged men unhappy about their partners’ decisions to pursue legal action.

However, legal experts suggest that while lawsuits like Rodriguez’s may proceed, others brought by state officials—such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s case against Carpenter—could face constitutional hurdles. Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, noted in an interview with *CuriosityNews* that while the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize judgments from private lawsuits, the same does not necessarily apply to penalties from state-initiated cases.

Rodriguez’s legal action proceeds independently as a private claim.