Texas Sues Delaware Provider Over Mailing of Abortion Pills

Case Highlights Growing Clash Between State Abortion Laws

Attorney General Files New Lawsuit

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against a Delaware nurse practitioner who operates a telehealth abortion-pill service, marking the latest escalation in a national battle over abortion laws. The suit, filed Tuesday in a district court in Jefferson County, accuses Debra Lynch of prescribing and mailing abortion medication to Texas residents in violation of the state’s ban.

Paxton sharply condemned Lynch’s work, calling her “this radical out-of-state abortion drug trafficker” and warning, “No one, regardless of where they live, will be freely allowed to aid in the murder of unborn children in Texas.”

Provider Says She Will Keep Operating

Lynch, who runs Her Safe Harbor, a Delaware-based telehealth service, denied that the lawsuit would change her work. She said she will continue supplying pills to people who seek them.

In an interview, Lynch said that abortion bans have serious consequences. She noted that “women are losing their lives and children are winding up orphans and babies are being born with non-life-sustaining medical conditions.” She added that “nothing or nobody” would stop her mission to bring health care to women.

Her Safe Harbor offers abortion pills prescribed through telemedicine and advertises that it will help patients in every state. Lynch operates the service with several volunteer licensed prescribers and her husband, Jay Lynch, who previously worked for Delaware’s health and social services department. She said they have moved to New York but continue to operate from Delaware, sending out hundreds of packages each month.

Shield Laws and State Conflicts

The lawsuit comes as states with abortion bans increase efforts to target medical professionals who practice from states where abortion remains legal. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide abortion protections in 2022, the legal fight has shifted to whether states must honor one another’s abortion laws.

Roughly a third of states now have near-total abortion bans. About 20 others have enacted abortion shield laws. These laws aim to protect prescribers who mail abortion medication to patients in states with bans, blocking cooperation with subpoenas, extradition requests and other legal actions.

Delaware strengthened its shield law last summer. The updated law states that it “provides protection from civil and criminal actions that arise in another state that are based on the provision of health care services that are legal in Delaware.” Lynch said she had been advised that Delaware’s shield law protects her work.

Cases involving other providers show how the conflict has widened. In a previous Texas lawsuit against a New York doctor, representatives invoked that state’s shield law. In Louisiana, governors in New York and California refused extradition requests for two doctors facing criminal charges.

Lynch said her lawyers did not respond to Texas because of Delaware’s shield law provisions.