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.
At the heart of the suit is an alleged $150 Venmo payment to