Man sues girlfriend’s husband, doctor who mailed abortion pills

A Texas father is suing a California doctor for “wrongful death” after he illegally mailed abortion pills that were used by his married lover to end two of their pregnancies, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. The Galveston man is also suing the woman’s husband, from whom she is separated, and her mother for helping to procure the abortion pills.

Now pregnant with his third child, the father, Jerry Rodriguez, fears she might try to terminate this pregnancy too. Though Texas laws ban abortion in all instances except when a mother is facing a medical emergency, women who have abortions cannot be sued or prosecuted. However, abortionists and those who help women obtain abortions are not protected from being sued or facing prosecution. 

In his lawsuit, Rodriguez claims Dr. Remy Coeytaux illegally mailed the abortion pills across state lines in September 2024. The suit also alleges that Coeytaux violated the Comstock Act, an 18th century anti-obscenity law that bans mailing contraceptives and items used to carry out an abortion. 

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Rodriguez states in the suit that he’s taking this action on behalf of current and future fathers of pre-born babies. He is being represented by pro-life attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who has helped influence Texas’ abortion laws, including the Heartbeat Bill (SB 8) that became law in 2021.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the Southern District of Texas and alleges that Coeytaux mailed the abortion-inducing drugs to Texas knowing they would be “provided to a pregnant woman for the purpose of inducing an abortion.”

The case is seen as a test of shield laws in states like California that have passed measures making it easier for abortion providers to mail abortion drugs to people living in pro-life states that have restrictions on abortion.

“This [lawsuit] is one of a many-pronged strategy to test these shield laws in as many ways as possible,” said Rachel Rebouché, the dean of the Temple Law School and an expert on shield laws, to The Texas Tribune. “But whether this case will go the way they’re expecting, there’s a lot we don’t know yet.”

One risk in this case for Rodriguez is that Coeytaux could countersue in an effort to protect his medical license in California, The Tribune noted. 

The lawsuit alleges that Coeytaux committed felony murder by knowingly causing the death of two pre-born babies. The complaint also alleges that the California physician violated a Texas Health & Safety Code that prohibits providing abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy.

The suit states that Rodriguez is seeking to “recover damages from Coeytaux for this wrongful death.” He is also seeking “an injunction to stop Coeytaux from distributing abortion-inducing drugs in violation of state or federal law.”

The complaint asks the judge to award Rodriguez at least $75,000 in damages, and to grant an injunction on behalf of “all current and future fathers of unborn children in the United States.”

Rodriguez began dating his girlfriend, Kendal Garza, in June 2024, and one month later, Garza became pregnant with their first baby, according to the suit. Rodriguez claims that Garza was happy about the pregnancy and planned to give birth, but her estranged husband, Adam Garza, didn’t want her to have the baby. 

Adam Garza ordered abortion drugs online in September 2024 from Coeytaux “with the intent of using them to murder Mr. Rodriguez’s unborn child,” the suit claims, noting that a Venmo receipt showing that the estranged husband purchased the abortion drugs for $150 from “Remy Coeytaux MD PC.” 

The estranged husband described the Venmo purchase as “‘Aed axes Kendal Garza,’” which the complaint said refers to Aid Access, an organization that illegally ships abortion drugs to states that have outlawed abortion. 

After receiving the payment, Coeytaux allegedly shipped the abortion-inducing drugs to Adam Garza’s house in Galveston County, Texas. 

Kendal Garza was over 10 weeks pregnant when she took the abortion drugs at her mother’s house, according to the complaint. She allegedly told Rodriguez that she took the drugs due to pressure from her mother and her estranged husband. 

In October 2024, Rodriguez’s girlfriend became pregnant a second time, and, once again, he claims that she seemed happy about the pregnancy. The couple later went together to a doctor’s appointment on Jan. 18 where they obtained a sonogram of their baby boy. 

“But later in January, Kendal killed Mr. Rodriguez’s unborn son with abortion pills that were illegally obtained and provided by Adam Garza,” the lawsuit states. “This time, Kendal took the abortion-inducing drugs at Adam’s house in Galveston County.” 

Rodriguez had pleaded with his girlfriend, who was three months pregnant at the time, not to take the abortion-inducing drugs, the suit adds. After she took the abortion drugs, Rodriguez’s girlfriend texted to inform him that she had to cut the baby’s umbilical cord and bury him, but she didn’t reveal the location. 

“In May of 2025, Kendal became pregnant for a third time with Mr. Rodriguez’s child,” the complaint states. “She is now two months pregnant. Mr. Rodriguez fears that Adam Garza will again pressure Kendal to kill his unborn child and obtain abortion pills from Coeytaux to commit the murder.”

Coeytaux did not respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment. 

A separate case centered around a doctor accused of illegally sending abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents involves New York abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter, who is also one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. 

In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Carpenter, accusing her of providing a Texas woman with abortion drugs that ended the life of an unborn child and “resulted in serious complications for the mother.” 

As The Texas Tribune reported in March, although a Texas judge ordered Carpenter to pay more than $100,000, New York refused to honor that ruling.