Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch physician founder of Aid Access, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, and California physician Dr. Remy Coeytaux, alleging that they illegally mailed abortion pills into Texas in violation of state law. The complaint was filed in Galveston County District Court and cites newly enacted statutes in the Texas Health and Safety Code created by House Bill 7 (HB 7).
Aid Access is a nonprofit telemedicine organization that prescribes and ships abortion-inducing medications, commonly known as mifepristone and misoprostol, to people in the United States, including states with abortion restrictions. Paxton’s lawsuit names Aid Access itself, Gomperts, and Coeytaux as defendants and seeks a temporary restraining order and injunction to prevent the organization and physicians from providing abortion medication to Texas residents.
Texas’ House Bill 7 (HB 7) went into effect in December 2025 and establishes new provisions targeting the mailing, transporting, prescribing, or providing of abortion-inducing drugs to or from individuals in Texas. The law allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits, similar to qui tam actions against anyone involved in distributing abortion pills into the state, with potential statutory damages of up to $100,000 per violation.
Under HB 7, the suit can seek injunctive relief and monetary penalties. It includes exemptions for individuals who obtain abortion medication for themselves, as well as certain entities such as internet service providers, but not for providers who mail or prescribe the drugs into Texas.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas has largely prohibited abortion, except in very limited circumstances where the life of the pregnant person is at risk. The state’s trigger ban activated after the Supreme Court decision, effectively banning most abortions and restricting who may lawfully provide abortion services and how medication is distributed.
In addition to civil penalties under HB 7, Texas law requires that abortions be performed by physicians licensed in the state. Paxton’s complaint alleges that Aid Access and Coeytaux violated Texas law by prescribing abortion medication to residents without a Texas medical license and shipping it into the state.
The recent lawsuit against Aid Access and the two physicians is not the first legal action citing HB 7. Earlier in February, Texas resident Jerry Rodriguez filed a private lawsuit against Dr. Coeytaux, accusing him of providing abortion pills that were allegedly used in a termination. Rodriguez’s complaint incorporated HB 7 and sought minimum statutory damages and an injunction to prevent Coeytaux from further prescribing or shipping abortion medication into the state.
In January 2026, Paxton also filed a lawsuit against a Delaware-based nurse practitioner and organization for allegedly mailing abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents under similar legal claims.
The medications at issue, mifepristone and misoprostol are the standard drug regimen used for early medication-based abortion, typically within the first trimester of pregnancy. While these drugs are widely used in the United States, Texas law treats their distribution into the state as unlawful outside narrow legal exceptions.
Paxton’s office has described its enforcement actions as efforts to uphold Texas abortion restrictions. “My office will defend the lives of the unborn and relentlessly enforce our state’s pro-life laws against Aid Access and other radicals like it,” the attorney general said in a statement about the lawsuit.
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