Texas bill to restrict abortion pills beefs up an existing legal tool for a new fight

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

When state lawmakers earlier this year failed to pass a bill to further restrict the flow of abortion pills into Texas, John Seago from Texas Right to Life considered it among the biggest missed opportunities of the regular legislative session.

Texans have been mailing in abortion pills at a rapid clip even though they’re illegal statewide and in spite of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempts to punish out-of-state doctors who prescribe them. Tools to discourage the inundation haven’t worked.

“There is a significant gap in the enforcement of pro-life laws that pro-abortion activists have been exploiting in the last couple of years and that is what we are trying to respond to,” Seago said.

Now that Republicans lawmakers took the summer to finish what they left undone on abortion pills, advocates on both sides of the abortion debate say a tool now exists in the form of House Bill 7, which awaits the governor’s approval, that could meaningfully tamp down on the practice.

Abortion-inducing medication is already outlawed in Texas and for years, Texas has allowed private citizens to sue abortion providers. The bill does not introduce new bans to abortion and it applies an existing legal tool — private enforcement — to the abortion pill ban more specifically. But, it introduces to the abortion fight a novel “bounty hunter” provision by giving a monetary award to those who bring a lawsuit and are not related to any part of the pregnancy.

Lawmakers who oppose the bill and pro-choice advocates are worried that it will have a strong chilling effect on the access to abortion pills in the state, while enriching the pockets of anti-abortionists.

Here is how the law is expected to play out, according to experts.

Bounty hunter provision: A new tool in the abortion fight

Pregnant people who seek out for themselves or take abortion pills are exempt from being sued under HB 7.

Anyone who manufactures, distributes or plays any part in helping a pregnant woman access abortion-inducing medication can be sued. They include, but are not limited to:

• Doctors who prescribe abortion medication.
• Companies like Aid Access who mail abortion pills to all 50 states.
• A family member or friend who orders abortion pills for their pregnant friend.

Anyone can bring a lawsuit. If they win, plaintiffs can get at least $100,000 from the defendant if they are related to the fetus. If they are not, they can only receive $10,000 and would have to donate the rest of the money to a charity or nonprofit. The charity of their choosing, however, cannot be one that they or their family members receive a salary or any financial benefits from.

“This bill is carefully and meticulously crafted and I believe this bill is compassionate to its core,” said the bill’s author Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, when he presented it on the House floor.

Because the law provides the option for a smaller reward, it could incentivize people to lie to get more money, said Darcy Caballero, the political director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes.

Subsequently, having to prove the plaintiff’s relationship to the fetus could lead to privacy violations of the fetus or the pregnant person, she said. “There is very little that someone could do to review the claim without engaging in totally invasive procedures.”

Leach assured that the bill protects the identity and personal health information of the pregnant person.

Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, has questioned if this provision was a “cash grab” and said in an interview that he can imagine pro-life nonprofits encouraging their supporters to file lawsuits and donate the money to their nonprofit.

Civil lawsuits: An old tool in the abortion fight

Using lawsuits to enforce an abortion ban is not new to Texas.

Senate Bill 8, also known as the Heartbeat Act, which went into effect in 2021 allowed lawsuits to be filed against physicians who provided abortions in Texas or anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion in violation of Texas law.

Theoretically, someone could sue an out-of-state provider of abortion medication under SB 8 by arguing that they are aiding and abetting an abortion that took place in Texas. This argument would be less straightforward and HB 7 more specifically targets out-of-state abortion manufacturers and providers.

Shortly after SB 8 went into effect, it was ruled unconstitutional by a Texas judge. Before HB 7 passed, Democratic lawmakers expressed concerns that there are several unconstitutional provisions in the bill, including how, as Johnson said, it “delegates the power of the state to individuals and to drive people against each other.”

Seago, on the other hand, believes shield laws are what’s unconstitutional and HB 7 is a strategy to fight against them.

HB 7 is another shield law test

Last year, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Margaret Carpenter, a New York doctor who Paxton accused of mailing abortion pills to Texas. New York, along with 22 other states, has shield laws which provide protections against civil and criminal lawsuits to health care providers who help provide abortions to those who live in states with restrictive abortion laws.

HB 7 is yet another test of those shield laws and Texas’ abortion ban. “Texas, can make these statements that their law should apply in one way or the other… that doesn't necessarily mean that another state is going to see it that way,” said Sarah Corning, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas.

So far, criminal prosecution for doctors in states without abortion bans have not worked, Seago said. He and other anti-abortion advocates hope that the threat of a lawsuit is enough to stop out-of-state providers from mailing abortion pills into Texas and that the courts don’t have to be involved.

“If litigation is necessary, we will bring that and we have a specific legal strategy given House Bill 7 that we will follow to overcome the limits of the shield law,” Seago said. “Our side hopes that this [bill] is a deterrent rather than needing to bring litigation.”

Lawmakers and those who support abortion believe that HB 7 was crafted to mimic SB 8’s success in limiting abortion providers in Texas — not many lawsuits have been filed under the Heartbeat Act because the law is working, Leach said.

“SB 8 had the greater chilling effect on behaviors and actions within Texas” compared to bills that criminalized abortion, said Kristén Ylana, the chief of staff for Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. She believes those who worked on HB 7 knew that the “bounty hunter” provision and the steep fines that came with civil lawsuits would be effective in scaring out-of-state abortion providers into stopping.

How will HB 7 affect access to abortion pills in Texas?

While there are disagreements on how effective HB 7 will be in reducing the number of abortion-inducing drugs that enter Texas, many pro-abortion advocates and lawmakers agree that this bill could have a “chilling effect” on safe access for women who need the pills.

“I’m absolutely concerned about the availability of the medications due to the chilling effects of the lawsuits,” Howard said. If providers are faced with lawsuits that would strip them of $100,000 each at minimum, it may not be financially feasible for them to keep mailing abortion pills to Texas, she added.

Johnson also said that “pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers are going to be terrified to deal with Texas or… make a legal calculation and just not deal with [Texas].”

Ylana, Howard’s chief of staff, added that they anticipate the lawsuit will be used since they’re easy to bring and that organizations like Aid Access will be targeted first.

Shellie Hayes-McMahon, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said that she doesn’t believe that the number of abortion pills being used in Texas will decrease as a result of HB 7.

“Women will find a way to exercise bodily autonomy but what Texas is trying to do is ensure that they are unsafe in doing so” Hayes-McMahon said.

Lawsuits under HB 7 do not apply to the use of abortion-inducing medication in medical emergencies.

Will HB 7 punish intent?

Before the bill passed, many lawmakers raised concerns that the law would punish intent. In other words, a pregnant person’s friend or family member researching an abortion pill — not necessarily providing it — would be at risk of a lawsuit.

Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, the sponsor of the bill, did not specifically say the bill would prevent such lawsuits, but “if someone files a frivolous or a groundless pleading like that, they're subject to sanction by the court.”

Corning, the ACLU attorney, said that theoretically, someone can sue a person because of something they said relating to aiding in the distribution of abortion pills. However, free speech rights can be used as a defense.

“We have very strong free speech protections and so if we’re talking about things like providing information or looking things up, reading content, that’s all speech that’s protected by the First Amendment,” Corning said.

The future of abortion laws in Texas

No Texas law directly punishes pregnant people for getting abortions. While a handful of bills that attempt to do so have been filed, none of them have made it far in the Legislature.

Many Republican lawmakers insist they would not support laws penalizing pregnant people, but several Democrat lawmakers are worried that Texas will eventually allow civil and criminal actions against pregnant people directly.

“I think it’s a very big concern,” Johnson said. “We’re living in a time right now when what used to be unthinkable just a few years ago is now not just a bill, it passes.”

Howard is not as sure and wants to believe her Republican colleagues who say they don’t believe pregnant women should be criminalized. However, she agreed that what’s happening in the current political landscape wouldn’t have been predictable 10 years ago, so it’s hard to say what else will be possible.

---

Three featured TribFest speakers confirmed! You don’t want to miss ​​Deb Haaland, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and 2026 Democratic candidate for New Mexico governor; state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston and 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and Jake Tapper, anchor of CNN’s “The Lead” and “State of the Union” at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get your tickets today!

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.