The Facts

Under Texas’s abortion ban (SB 8), private citizens can sue anyone who helps someone access an abortion. Ken Paxton has backed and aggressively enforced this system, which relies on everyday people to file lawsuits instead of the state. This has opened the door to targeting doctors, providers, and family members who offer support. The law was designed to create fear, confusion, and real barriers to essential health care—and Paxton has worked to make sure it does, impacting the lives of ordinary Texans.

Ken Paxton has sued doctors in other states for prescribing abortion medication to Texas patients via telehealth — even when those doctors are following the laws where they live. These legal attacks are a clear attempt to impose Texas’s extreme abortion bans far beyond its own borders. By targeting out-of-state providers, Paxton is working to control personal health care choices and cut off access to care, no matter where Texans turn for help. These attacks could set a dangerous precedent that could threaten personal freedoms and health care access for families nationwide.

After a court allowed a pregnant Texan to receive emergency abortion care due to life-threatening complications, Ken Paxton stepped in to block it. He pressured the Texas Supreme Court to deny her crucial medical treatment—even after doctors confirmed her health and future fertility were at risk. The court ultimately sided with the state, forcing her to travel out of Texas just to get the health care she desperately needed.

Ken Paxton took the Biden administration to court, challenging a federal law that protects a woman’s right to emergency medical care. These rules simply ensure that in a medical emergency, all hospitals *must* provide stabilizing treatment to a pregnant person, even if that means an abortion. Paxton challenged this law, putting Texas’s abortion ban ahead of doctors’ judgment and a woman’s health in life-threatening situations.

Ken Paxton sued Aid Access, a telehealth provider that prescribes abortion pills, for mailing abortion medication to Texans. Medication abortion is a safe, FDA-approved way to end a pregnancy—but Paxton is using the courts to block access anyway, pushing his own agenda over the health and choices of Texans.  This lawsuit is part of a relentless campaign to cut off every last avenue for women to make their own healthcare decisions. It shows how far he is willing to go to control private medical choices, even reaching beyond state borders to dictate what care people can receive.