Texas Enacts Law Empowering Citizens to Sue Over Mail-Order Abortion Pills

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed House Bill 7 into law, a stringent measure allowing private citizens to sue anyone trafficking abortion pills like mifepristone and misoprostol into the state, with potential fines up to $100,000 per violation. Supporters frame the law as a critical tool to protect unborn children and close loopholes enabling mail-order abortions, citing estimates that around 19,000 abortion pills are trafficked into Texas annually. Critics argue the law deputizes citizens as anti-abortion bounty hunters, risks infringing on other states' laws, and may sow fear and vigilante behavior among Texans, while advocates in other states vow to continue providing abortion pills legally. The law is an escalation of Texas's post-Roe legal strategy, mirroring and amplifying earlier enforcement methods such as the 2021 near-total abortion ban, and is set to take effect in early December. It also highlights the growing legal conflicts between states with abortion bans and Democratic-led states with shield laws protecting abortion providers. This legislation is viewed as a potential model for other Republican-led states aiming to restrict abortion access through private enforcement mechanisms.