A Texas woman is suing four anti-abortion activists for allegedly illegally ordering abortion pills, violating the very anti-abortion laws they campaigned to put in place. Maria Puerto, a pseudonym used by the plaintiff, has named Kristan Mercer, Lydia Taylor, Jamie Curry and Megan Roos in a suit, with the action complained of arising from a March Instagram story.
As per The Independent, the social media post shows Hawkins, the founder and president of the national youth anti-abortion group Students for Life, posing with two staff members with the footage captioned, “Guess what we are doing? Ordering abortion pills undercover? Yep. Stay tuned.”
The suit argues this is in direct violation of Texas House Bill 7, which came into effect in December 2025 and allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against persons who “mail, transport, deliver, prescribe, or provide an abortion-inducing drug in any manner to or from any person or location in this state.”
“I want justice for what these laws have taken from women like me”
Notably, it does not mention anything about motive, so in the eyes of the law, it does not matter that none of the defendants were pregnant when ordering the pills or that they were “undercover”. As per House Bill 7, Puerto is seeking $459,782 from the women, of which $10,000 will be awarded to her. The rest of the funds will be placed in trust for a designated charity, with Puerto telling The New York Times that she has it earmarked for Jane’s Due Process, a non-profit helping minors with abortion restrictions.
Molly Duane, Puerto’s attorney, was withering about the four defendants, saying, “They bragged publicly about violating a law that they themselves had worked really hard to get passed. … So you know the hubris really of breaking a law that you advocated for. I don’t think it’s funny.”
Puerto herself added, “I want justice for what these laws have taken from women like me. I felt bad, because these are young women who are supposed to support each other. Instead, it feels like they are mocking women like me.”
That’s in reference to her own experiences. Puerto fell pregnant in 2022 despite being on birth control and was unable to leave the state to get an abortion due to caring for her mother. She says severe morning sickness during that pregnancy saw her miss classes, lose a scholarship, and then get fired from a job at a convenience store: “I had everything in my hands. But the laws came like a hurricane and took everything away.”
Now she lives in a single room in her mother’s trailer, sharing a bed with her kids. But, she says, this lawsuit will only prove that they haven’t beaten her: “They knocked me down. But they didn’t know that I was going to get back up stronger.” The four defendants have not publicly commented on the suit.
Published: Oct 14, 2026 10:30 am