Puerto v. Hawkins: Kristan Hawkins Texas Abortion Pill Lawsuit

Kristan Hawkins lawsuit under Texas's abortion pill trafficking law

Puerto v. Hawkins targets the President of Students for Life of America, Kristan Hawkins, and three of her staff members for their pro-life advocacy: an undercover investigation exposing how easily abortion pills are still trafficked into Texas. The plaintiff sued them in the 113th District Court in Harris County under Texas's Woman and Child Protection Act, also known as House Bill 7 (HB 7). Thomas More Society, joined by co-counsel Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain, is defending them.

The Students for Life team Thomas More Society is defending

• Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America
• Lydia Taylor Davis, spokesperson and social media coordinator
• Jamie Curry, campus tour and speaker bureau manager
• Megan Roos, Texas regional coordinator

What Texas House Bill 7 does

Texas enacted House Bill 7 in 2025 to stop abortion pill trafficking, much of it by out-of-state prescribers hiding behind so-called shield laws. The law lets private citizens sue anyone who distributes, mails, or provides abortion-inducing drugs in Texas.

The law also protects people like the Students for Life team. HB 7 expressly "does not apply to" anyone who handles abortion-inducing drugs solely for "a purpose that does not include performing, inducing, attempting, or assisting an abortion." It also "does not prohibit" speech protected by the First Amendment or the Texas Constitution.

How the lawsuit against Kristan Hawkins began

On October 13, 2026, a pseudonymous plaintiff represented by the pro-abortion firm Amplify Legal sued the four women. She sues as a "relator" on the state's behalf under HB 7's private-enforcement provision and admits she has no connection to the defendants.

She claims the women violated HB 7 by ordering abortion pills during their undercover investigation in Houston in March 2026. Her own petition calls the investigation a "publicity stunt." She seeks $459,782 and an injunction against Students for Life, which is not a party to the case.

"Attempting to punish the Students for Life team for noticing the obvious—abortion pills can be illegally trafficked—is like going after the person reporting a fire instead of the arsonist. Laws are being broken, and babies are dying, while the sovereignty of Texas law is violated. We are ready to defend ourselves," said Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America.

How Thomas More Society is defending the Students for Life team

"Abortion activists are now seeking to punish pro-life women under the very law these brave women fought to pass," said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation. "Kristan Hawkins and her colleagues gathered evidence of an illegal trade and shared it with the public, investigative reporting the First Amendment protects. This case is a patently meritless attempt to silence and cover up the truth that out-of-state interests are flooding Texas with abortion pills—we will vigorously defend Kristan and her colleagues until this case is thrown out of court."

On November 9, 2026, the defendants filed their answer. It denies that any of the women violated the law and asks the court to dismiss the case because the plaintiff lacks standing to sue. It also invokes HB 7's own protections for conduct with no abortion purpose and for constitutionally protected speech.

"The plaintiff's lawyers wrote our defense for us," said Breen. "Their own petition admits these women weren't pregnant, weren't seeking an abortion, and were exposing abortion pill traffickers—precisely the conduct Texas' abortion pill trafficking law says it does not reach."

The answer also identifies three problems with the petition:

• It never alleges facts showing that any defendant committed an act the law prohibits.
• It bases its $459,782 demand on the cost of raising the plaintiff's children, a measure the statute does not use. The law would let her personally keep no more than $10,000 of any award.
• It seeks an injunction against Students for Life, even though the organization is not a party to the case.