Texas sues Delaware nurse practitioner over mail-order abortion pills
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against a Delaware-based nurse practitioner, alleging she illegally shipped abortion-inducing drugs to women across Texas in violation of state law.
Allegations of illegal shipments
What we know:
A petition was filed in Jefferson County district court, just east of Houston, and names Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner who operates an online women’s health clinic known as Her Safe Harbor.
The state alleges Lynch prescribed and mailed abortion drugs, including mifepristone and misoprostol, from Delaware to Texas residents despite Texas’ near-total abortion ban. In a press release on Tuesday, Paxton states that the clinic "routinely" sends these abortion drugs across state lines.
Mifepristone and misoprostol (Photo illustration by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
According to the petition, Lynch is not licensed as a physician in Texas and operates a telemedicine service that advertises abortion pills by mail nationwide. The state specifically names Texas cities such as Beaumont, Houston, El Paso, Tomball and Fulshear.
Potential penalties and evidence
What they're saying:
Each shipment constitutes a separate violation of the state’s Human Life Protection Act, the lawsuit claims, exposing the defendants to civil penalties of at least $100,000 per violation and a potential criminal penalty of anywhere from two years to life in prison.
The petition cites previous media interviews in which Lynch acknowledged shipping abortion drugs to Texas. One interview referenced in the filing was with the Austin American-Statesman on January 16, 2025, in which Lynch said she and her staff "mail a lot [of abortion drugs] to Texas."
(Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
The petition continues to ask the court for temporary and permanent injunctions barring Lynch and her organization from continuing operations in Texas.
"The day of reckoning for this radical out-of-state abortion drug trafficker is here," Paxton said in a statement. "No one, regardless of where they live, will be freely allowed to aid in the murder of unborn children in Texas."
August 2025 cease-and-desist ignored
The backstory:
The January filing follows an earlier enforcement effort by Paxton’s office. In August 2025, the attorney general issued a cease-and-desist letter ordering Lynch and Her Safe Harbor to immediately stop advertising and mailing abortion drugs into Texas.
The letter warned that the clinic could face lawsuits, injunctions and civil penalties if it failed to comply.
According to the lawsuit, the attorney general’s office did not receive a response to the cease-and-desist notice, and Lynch later told Medscape.com that Her Safe Harbor continued operating despite legal threats.
Dig deeper:
Paxton has also taken enforcement action against other abortion-pill providers, including Plan C and an affiliate of Aid Access, ordering them to stop facilitating shipments of abortion drugs to Texas residents.
Case status
What's next:
Court records show the state is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties, and attorneys’ fees.
The case remains pending as of Jan. 28, 2026.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Attorney General of Texas. Additional information was provided from public court documents.