When Texas lawmakers enacted House Bill 7 — a sweeping law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps distribute abortion medication in the state — Students for Life cheered the measure. Now, that anti-abortion group is being sued under the law they championed, in a case that experts say could ultimately weaken the very tool organizations hoped would stop people from getting abortions in Texas. Abortion opponents are also planning to file their own lawsuits that could also define HB 7.
In a March social media post, the named defendants claimed to be ordering the pills “undercover” to illustrate that they are still available to people in the state. HB 7 does not prevent people from ordering abortion medication, but it does prohibit transporting them or providing them to others. The suit was filed last week on behalf of a Texas-based woman who, because of the state’s abortion ban, is now a mother of two.
The plaintiff seeks just under a half million dollars — enough, the suit says, to raise two children in Texas. The suit was filed by lawyers at Amplify Legal, a nonpartisan practice that supports abortion rights. Students for Life has condemned the lawsuit while defending HB 7.
In a statement, Kristi Hamrick, a spokesperson for the organization, said it “appreciates the backhanded compliment that because of our legislative work, babies’ lives are being saved.” Critics have called HB 7 a “bounty hunter law” because it allows private lawsuits, with financial awards attached, to be brought by people unrelated to the incident. The law has hardly been used since it took effect in December. One lawsuit, filed in Texas against a California-based physician who allegedly mailed abortion medications to a woman in Texas, lists HB 7 among the laws ostensibly violated.
That case remains in its early stages. Some experts say it’s unclear what activities can be prosecuted under the law, including whether it targets people who intend to help someone procure an abortion, regardless as to whether they succeed. Others have suggested it could threaten free speech protected by the First Amendment by targeting people who say they intend to distribute pills for the purpose of abortion, or that it could represent an effort by Texas to regulate commerce conducted across state lines — something only the federal government can do. (The text of the law says it would not apply to constitutionally protected speech.) This new suit may test those very questions.
If the suit is dismissed, it could add new standards and definitions around when HB 7 might actually apply — including who is an appropriate plaintiff or what kind of behavior actually can serve as the basis for a lawsuit. Those, Rebouché said, would ultimately narrow the scope of the far-reaching law. But abortion opponents in Texas say they are preparing their own suits that could illustrate or test HB 7’s scope.
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