Overview
- Texas filed a Jefferson County petition on Jan. 27–28 against Debra Lynch and her telehealth clinic Her Safe Harbor, alleging prescriptions and shipments of mifepristone and misoprostol to cities including Beaumont, Houston, Tomball, Fulshear and El Paso.
- The suit alleges violations of the Human Life Protection Act and unlicensed practice of medicine, seeking temporary and permanent injunctions plus civil penalties that could reach at least $100,000 per shipment.
- Paxton’s filing relies largely on Lynch’s media interviews acknowledging Texas shipments and centers venue in Jefferson County, a strategy legal scholars say may collide with Delaware’s provider shield law.
- The action follows a similar 2024 case against New York physician Margaret Carpenter that a New York judge dismissed under that state’s shield law, a decision Texas says it is appealing.
- Lynch told WHYY she is not deterred and says her Delaware-licensed clinic provides care legally under state rules, setting up a likely cross-state enforcement fight if Texas secures a judgment.