Texas Right to Life plans to pursue legislation targeting men who secretly give women abortion drugs, challenging Democratic lawmakers to support the effort as they seek to repeal the state’s abortion restrictions.
“We will also pursue legislation to hold accountable men who secretly poison women with abortion drugs, as we have seen a rise in these horrific cases since President Biden allowed these drugs to be mailed. If Democrats truly care for women, they should support protecting them from abusers,” Ashley Leenerts, legislative director of Texas Right to Life, told The Dallas Express.
Leenerts described the effort as part of the group’s legislative agenda. Her statement did not identify a bill number or proposed penalties for secretly administering abortion drugs.
Repeal bills face a Senate hurdle
“Texas Right to Life will work tirelessly at the Capitol to oppose Democrats’ radical efforts to repeal existing protections for preborn children and their mothers. We will work with Pro-Life leaders in the House to expose the inhumanity of abortion, the humanity of the unborn child, and the harm abortion causes women, while urging the Republican-led Senate to stand firm against any pro-abortion legislation that makes it through the House,” Leenerts said.
State Rep. Donna Howard (D-District 48) filed House Bill 126 on November 9. The bill would repeal the 2021 Texas Heartbeat Act, the trigger ban that took effect in 2022 and the state’s pre-Roe v. Wade abortion statutes codified in 1925.
Howard’s proposal would also repeal parental consent requirements for minors seeking abortions and mandatory waiting periods. Its repeal list extends beyond abortion to provisions of Senate Bill 14, the 2023 law restricting certain sex-rejecting surgeries and hormone drugs for minors.
The proposals form part of a broader package of Democratic abortion bills that The Dallas Express reported on November 11.
Other measures take narrower approaches. State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) proposed Senate Bill 231 to create exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. State Sen. Molly Cook (D-Houston) introduced Senate Bill 243 to allow an exception for lethal fetal conditions following specified medical reviews.
Current law already allows abortions when a licensed physician determines that a pregnancy-related, life-threatening physical condition places the mother at risk of death or serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function. The law does not require the risk to be imminent.
The legislation follows a Democratic sweep of the governor’s office, U.S. Senate, lieutenant governor’s office and other statewide contests that ended decades of Republican dominance, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D-Texas) also campaigned on ending Texas’ abortion ban, a commitment her campaign outlined in a January statement. Repealing the statutes would still require legislative action.
Democrats also won control of the Texas House, but Republicans retained their Senate majority and could block repeal legislation. Filing the bills does not change current law.
Pressure on Trump over mailed pills
Leenerts said Texas Right to Life would also continue pressing President Donald Trump to act against mailed abortion drugs.
“That said, we will continue pressing President Trump to enforce existing federal law to stop abortion pills from being mailed into our country, either through FDA guidelines or the Comstock Act, which could be enforced through executive action alone.”
The FDA stopped enforcing its in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone in April 2021 and formally removed the requirement in January 2023. Those federal changes did not repeal Texas’ abortion restrictions.
Johnson signals enforcement change
The incoming attorney general has signaled a separate shift in enforcement. Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson (D-Texas) said he would stop suing out-of-state providers who mail abortion pills to Texas residents in a KXAN interview his campaign republished November 5.
Johnson acknowledged that he could not change abortion law as attorney general. His position would depart from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R-Texas) approach. Paxton sued a New York physician in December 2024 over allegations that she prescribed abortion drugs to a Collin County woman in violation of Texas law.
Johnson’s stated enforcement plan would apply to lawsuits brought by the attorney general’s office. It would not repeal Texas’ abortion laws. State law separately authorizes private civil lawsuits over certain violations involving abortion-inducing drugs.
The 90th Texas Legislature will convene January 12, 2027.
