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A man from Texas has initiated a groundbreaking federal lawsuit for wrongful death against an abortion provider in California, alleging that the physician “murdered” his unborn children by sending abortion pills across state lines.
The lawsuit, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, is the first of its kind to explore how pro-life litigants can navigate around blue state abortion protection laws using federal statutes from the past century and the Texas civil code.
Submitted on July 20 in the Southern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of assisting in illegal self-managed abortions in 2024 by mailing abortion-inducing drugs to Galveston County, Texas, where they were reportedly used to terminate two pregnancies.
Plaintiff Jerry Rodriguez alleges that his girlfriend’s estranged husband bought the pills from Coeytaux through a Venmo transaction and pressured her to take them, which resulted in the termination of two pregnancies that Rodriguez believes were his.
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An ultrasound image from Jan. 18, 2025, allegedly shows Jerry Rodriguez’s unborn son. Filed as Exhibit 2 in Rodriguez v. Coeytaux in the Southern District of Texas. (Image filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas)
At the core of the lawsuit is an alleged $150 Venmo payment to “Remy Coeytaux MD PC” with the label “Aed axes,” followed by his girlfriend’s name. Rodriguez interprets “Aed axes” as a phonetic spelling of “Aid Access,” a network that assists women in obtaining abortion pills.
Rodriguez claims that the first abortion took place in September 2024 at his girlfriend’s mother’s home, and the second in January 2025 at her estranged husband’s home. Ultrasound images from January, provided as Exhibit 2, serve as evidence of the second pregnancy, which was determined to be a boy.
Rodriguez is seeking damages exceeding $75,000, certification of a national class of “fathers of unborn children,” and a permanent injunction preventing Coeytaux from mailing abortion drugs in violation of state or federal laws.
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Mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol are two drugs used in a medication abortion. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
The legal basis of the complaint has sparked interest. The lawsuit resurrects the long-dormant Comstock Act, an 1873 federal anti-obscenity law that prohibits the mailing of abortion-related materials. Despite not being enforced for over a century, the Comstock Act remains in effect.
Jonathan Mitchell, the lawyer who spearheaded Texas’s heartbeat law (SB8), is representing 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 lawsuit also alleges that Coeytaux committed felony murder under Texas Penal Code § 19.02 by aiding an illegal abortion. It cites various violations of Texas laws, including requirements for abortion drugs to be administered solely 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 did not meet any of these requirements.
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People for and against abortion demonstrate before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The case is already being viewed as a strategic test of blue state abortion protection laws. States like California, New York, and Washington have enacted measures to safeguard their abortion providers from legal risks when treating out-of-state patients.
However, Rodriguez’s legal team circumvented these obstacles by directly filing a civil wrongful death lawsuit in federal court, a move that some legal experts believe could provide a new avenue for anti-abortion plaintiffs to target providers outside of their own state.
As of Friday, court records indicate that Coeytaux has not responded to the complaint, and he has not made any public statements regarding the case.
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Pro-abortion groups are anticipated to challenge both the interpretation of the Comstock Act and the authority of private citizens to bring wrongful death claims associated with out-of-state telehealth prescriptions.
If the case overcomes initial procedural obstacles, it could establish a new framework for pro-life litigants to address the supply chain of abortion pills three years after the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court.
Coeytaux did not respond immediately to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
