Four Students for Life activists are being sued by a mother of two who claims she was “forced to carry” her pregnancy to term because of Texas’ pro-life laws that the organization had lobbied for.
Because the mother did not suffer an injury traceable to the group’s actions, she is instead hoping to be awarded compensation from an unrelated incident.
In an attempt to use a pro-life law to target Students for Life, she is alleging that its activists illegally ordered abortion pills to prove that it can still be done in Texas.
Background
Maria Puerto, a pseudonym for a “predominately Spanish-speaking” 26-year-old Texas single mother, claims to be in dire need of resources to support her children, ages three and one.
In 2022, Puerto and her boyfriend learned that she was pregnant for the first time despite being on birth control pills. Puerto claims that her elderly mother was relying on her for financial support and she did not have access to the transportation or resources to obtain an abortion. She asserts that she had no choice but to “continue the pregnancy,” as it was “either pay for my mom’s medicine or get an abortion.”
Puerto alleges that as a result of this pregnancy, her college financial aid was revoked, forcing her to quit school and give up on her dream career. She also asserts that she was fired from her minimum wage job at a local convenience store.
She claims to have not been able to afford child care or finish her degree, but became pregnant again in 2024. Puerto reportedly struggled with depression during the second pregnancy, especially after learning she was having a daughter.
“When I found out I was having a girl, I felt so much pain. Since Roe was overturned, women have not experienced a free Texas. We have no ability to decide about our own bodies, our own families, our own lives,” said Puerto.
Her relationship with the children’s father reportedly ended during the second pregnancy, at which time she again felt that she did not have the option to kill her preborn child. Puerto now shares a bedroom with her two children in her mother’s house.
Yet none of this backstory, which is extensively detailed in the lawsuit, has anything to do with the suit itself.
Because Puerto could not seek financial compensation from the state or pro-life activists for bearing her children, she decided to sue four Students for Life of America activists for an unrelated matter.
The Lawsuit
Puerto alleges that on March 23, 2026, Kristan Hawkins, Lydia Taylor Davis, Jamie Curry, and Megan Roos illegally ordered abortion pills outside of Space Center Houston. They reportedly ordered the pills undercover to show how easy it still is to do so.
“Their behavior stokes fear among the physicians providing telemedicine abortion services to Texans, and in Relator Maria Puerto’s words, ‘mocks’ Texans like her,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit cited House Bill 7, also known as the “Woman and Child Protection Act,” which was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2025. The law made distribution of abortion pills illegal in Texas, with few exceptions.
Notably, HB 7 has a private enforcement mechanism. This means only private individuals can bring a lawsuit under it, and the state is prohibited from doing so. Additionally, the law cannot be enforced against a woman attempting to abort her unborn child.
Any private individual may bring the suit, regardless of whether they have suffered an injury traceable to the defendant’s actions. The remedies available to such a plaintiff include “an amount of not less than $100,000 for each violation” and “costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.”
“With nowhere else to turn for assistance, Ms. Puerto is seeking financial compensation from Ms. Hawkins, Ms. Davis, Ms. Curry, Ms. Roos, and Students for Life under H.B. 7 in the amount of $459,782—the average cost of raising two children from birth to age 18 in the state of Texas,” reads the lawsuit.
The suit was filed on Tuesday by attorney Molly Duane of Amplify Legal in a Harris County district court.
Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, addressed the lawsuit on social media.
“That’s what we’re getting sued in civil court over, a mother who says she was ‘forced to have a baby’ after an incremental pro-life law was passed, that we were helpful in passing … therefore we should have to pay the cost of rearing her child,” said Hawkins in a video posted to Instagram. “It’s not every day you get sued for proving that your work saves babies, so I guess I’m honored.”
Hawkins went on to express her sympathy for Puerto’s children.
“I feel so bad for this child. This child forever in his or her whole life will now have written proof that their mother wanted to abort [them], wanted to kill them. And then even went so far as to launch a publicity stunt to sue and tell the whole world that they didn’t want them. And that’s one of the worst forms of emotional child abuse I can ever think of,” she continued.
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