Under the new law, which will take effect 4 December, abortion providers could face penalties of at least $100,000 if they mail pills into the state, which bans virtually all abortions. Pharmaceutical manufacturers who make drugs that Texans use for abortions could also be found liable, but they may be able to defend themselves by proving in court that they adopted and implemented “a policy to not distribute, mail, transport, deliver, provide, or possess abortion-inducing drugs” – though the language of the law is somewhat ambiguous on whether that provision applies to Texas or more broadly. Women who take abortion pills are not eligible to be sued.

Her Safe Harbor, an organization that uses shield laws to mail abortion pills to people and received one of Paxton’s cease-and-desist letters, has no plans to block Texans from its services, said Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner who works with the group, in an interview before Abbott signed the law. In fact, as the Texas law neared passage in the state legislature, Her Safe Harbor started receiving so many requests for help from patients that it had to double its number of abortion providers, according to Lynch.

“Even if a law was passed that said they would come after us criminally and not civilly – that would not have any impact whatsoever on the services that we provide,” Lynch said. “It’s important that women know that.”