Texas man sues California abortionist for enabling the deaths of his preborn children

The lawsuit states that a second pregnancy occurred in October 2024. The suit states the woman was “again happy about the pregnancy and told Mr. Rodriguez that she planned to give birth to their child, a son.” The couple even got sonograms of their child. However, in January 2025, Garza again illegally obtained abortion pills and forced his estranged wife to take them. The woman “texted Mr. Rodriguez and told him that she had to cut the baby boy’s umbilical cord and bury him (although she did not say where).” At that time, the woman was three months pregnant — past the FDA’s 10-week limit on the abortion pill.

The woman is reportedly pregnant again, and Rodriguez fears that Garza “will again pressure [her] to kill [Rodriguez’s] unborn child and obtain abortion pills from Coeytaux to commit the murder.”

Rodriguez is asking for $75,000 in damages for the wrongful deaths of his preborn children, as well as an injunction to prevent Coeytaux from mailing abortion pills across state lines, “on behalf of a class of all current and future fathers of unborn children in the United States.”

The lawsuit states that Coeytaux’s actions were in violation of various Texas laws, as it states, “Under the law of Texas, a person who assists a pregnant woman in obtaining a self-managed abortion commits the crime of murder and can be sued for wrongful death.”

“Assisting a self-managed abortion in Texas is an act of murder,” the lawsuit states, noting that while Rodriguez’s girlfriend “cannot be charged with murder for her role in killing her unborn child, immunity does not shield Coeytaux from liability for aiding or abetting or directly participating in the murder.”

In addition, it calls on the federal Comstock law, which prohibits the mailing of abortion-related materials, though that law has not been enforced.

Zoom Out:

Coercion through mail-order abortion has become increasingly common, and this case further illustrates the dangers involved in the practice. There have been many cases where women have been unwittingly forced into an abortion they did not want. As Live Action News previously reported:

[N]urse-practitioner David Coots was arrested, along with his wife Melissa, after he inserted abortion pills into his pregnant mistress during sex. One woman, Ursula Wing, was arrested for illegally selling abortion pills, having been caught after one of her clients, Jeffrey Smith, bought the pills from her and slipped them into his girlfriend’s water bottle. Other men — Manishkumar Patel and Jin Mimae — have been arrested for the same reason. And these are only a few notable examples — there are many, many, many, many, many, many more.

In another instance, pro-life activist Joe Baca attempted to see how easy it is for anyone to obtain abortion pills online. He ordered abortion pills from Plan C and Aid Access, two online abortion businesses, using a fake name with each. Neither verified his identity, or even that he was a female. Using fake female names, he was easily able to get abortion pills mailed to him.

“Neither company required proof of a doctor’s visit or even an ultrasound proving I was pregnant,” he said. “They did nothing to make sure I was not being abused, raped or trafficked. They did absolutely nothing to verify I was an adult beyond asking me how old I was. I simply told them I was born in 1995, but they never asked for an ID.”

The Bottom Line:

Experts say the lawsuit will be yet another test of a state’s “shield laws,” since California law promises to protect abortionists like Coeytaux, who break laws in other states. While the state of Texas has filed a similar lawsuit against New York abortionist Dr. Margaret Carpenter, this is the first time such a case has been filed in federal court.

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