Texas Mother Demands $459,782 From Anti-Abortion Activists To Cover Raising Her Two Kids to 18

A Texas mother is suing anti-abortion campaigners for $459,782 (about £347,700), which court papers call the state's average cost of raising two kids to 18. The 26-year-old woman goes by the name Maria Puerto. She filed on Tuesday. She is suing Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, and three of its staff members.

Puerto is suing under HB 7, a law the group lobbied for that lets private citizens sue people who violate or intend to violate its restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs. If she wins, she would keep only $10,000 (about £7,560). Her backers say any remainder would go to Jane's Due Process, a charity that helps young people end pregnancies.

What the Lawsuit Says Happened in Houston

The suit says Hawkins, Lydia Taylor Davis, Jamie Curry, and Megan Roos ordered the pills outside Space Center Houston on 23 March 2026. A since-expired Instagram post that day said the group was 'ordering abortion pills undercover'. The order, which two Mother Jones videographers watched, was meant to show how easily Texans can still get the pills, Texas Scorecard reported. The complaint names four individuals as defendants, but not Students for Life, although it seeks an injunction against the group. Hawkins replied on X in the post below.

HB 7 took effect in December. Damages start at $100,000 (about £75,600) per breach. The law bans manufacturing, distributing, mailing, transporting, delivering, prescribing or providing abortion-inducing drugs, but does not explicitly ban ordering them. 'This is the problem with writing such a confusing and vague law,' Molly Duane, Puerto's lawyer, told The Texas Tribune. Court papers do not say whether the women took the pills. At least two earlier HB 7 cases targeted out-of-state providers.

Why She Wants the Cost of Raising Two Children

Both of her pregnancies came despite her use of birth control, court papers say. In 2022, she was in college on a scholarship when severe morning sickness kept her out of class and cost her her financial aid. Her employer, a convenience store, also fired her. 'I lost everything, my job, my career,' the lawsuit quotes her as saying, Mother Jones reported. In 2024, she became depressed during her second pregnancy.

She now shares a bed with her two children in a small room at her mother's home, the filing says. She has not yet found work that pays enough to cover childcare costs. Each time, she could not afford to travel out of state to end a pregnancy, the suit says. Duane said the state gave her no help with childcare, paid leave, housing, or food.

How Students for Life Has Hit Back

In an X video, Hawkins dismissed the lawsuit as a publicity stunt and asked state Child Protective Services to look into Puerto. 'Imagine suing someone for being TOO good at their job,' she wrote. Vice president Kristi Hamrick branded the case a backhanded compliment and pledged to fight on.

HB 7 had strong backing from Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general and now a US Senate candidate. Duane called the attacks disappointing yet unsurprising, and praised Puerto as a caring parent. She hopes the lawsuit reveals what the four women did with the pills.