Out-of-state providers are still mailing abortion pills into Texas, and to the frustration of Attorney General Ken Paxton and the state of Texas, neither can currently stop them due to a legal loophole that pits Texas state law against other blue states’ laws.
On Sept. 17, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 7, effectively creating a bounty hunter system that, for the first time, allows private citizens to sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, mails, transports, delivers, prescribes, or provides” medication abortion pills – a definition that names misoprostol (Cytotec) and methotrexate – to a Texan patient. It’s another step in the state’s efforts to prevent Texans from obtaining an out-of-state abortion by any means, via medication or medical procedure.
HB 7 doesn’t prosecute the pregnant person taking the abortion-inducing medication; rather, it goes after whoever helps the person obtain the abortion pill. The father, sibling, or grandparent of the fetus can sue the individual who aided the pregnant person and win a minimum reward of $100,000 through the court. All other suing individuals can receive $10,000, with the rest of the reward sent to a “charitable organization.”
The bounty system incentivizes a vengeful ex-lover, a snooping neighbor, or truly anyone to turn in couples trying to obtain abortion care, a parent helping their minor child, and other situations to take home a significant monetary reward out of the state’s pocket and resources.
“It will fuel fear among manufacturers and providers nationwide, while encouraging neighbors to police one another’s reproductive lives, further isolating pregnant Texans, and punishing the people who care for them,” Blair Wallace of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said in a statement when the bill passed the House.
On Aug. 14, Paxton sent out three cease-and-desist letters to out-of-state abortion pill providers who are actively mailing pills today to Texas patients: Plan C and an affiliate of Aid Access out of California, and Her Safe Harbor out of Delaware. Since 2016, Plan C, the public health campaign by the National Women’s Health Network, has pointed individuals seeking care toward what their mail-in abortion pill options are.
“Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here.” – Letitia James, attorney general of New York
Those providers are able to mail abortion pills into Texas because they reside in states with shield laws, which are laws that protect medical providers’ rights to service patients regardless of where those patients might be located, including via telehealth. This specific kind of shield law exists only in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, while 22 states in total have some kind of shield law for medical providers related to reproductive health care.
In June 2023, per Plan C’s report, telehealth services started to use shield laws to expand abortion care to all states, even ones with bans. More than 60% of abortions are happening via pill. According to the Society of Family Planning in a June 2025 report, by the end of 2024, a quarter of abortions were being provided via telehealth (12,330 per month in the U.S. that year).
On Sept. 8, Letitia James, attorney general of New York, declared that her state will not enforce Texas’ abortion ban, formally intervening in a lawsuit Paxton brought against a New York county clerk. Last December, Paxton attempted to sue a New York doctor in a New York court for prescribing abortion care over telehealth to a patient in Texas, and his filing was rejected by a New York county clerk on grounds of the state’s shield law.
“Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here,” James said in the Sept. 8 statement. “Our shield law exists to protect New Yorkers from out-of-state extremists, and New York will always stand strong as a safe haven for health care and freedom of choice.”
“For the many women who are unable to leave Texas for abortion care, using telehealth to get abortion pills has been a lifeline,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in the same press release.
If the provider recipients of the cease-and-desist letters do not stop shipping pills into Texas, Paxton threatened in a Aug. 20 press release, it could result in “further legal action” and “civil penalties of no less than $100,000 per violation under Texas law.” The shield law fight currently enabling abortion access in states with bans like Texas is expected to end up at the Supreme Court.
This article appears in September 26 • 2025.
