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A Texas man is suing his ex-wife’s three friends for $1 million after they helped her get an abortion as a text exchange reveals she was scared he’d ‘use it against her’ to keep her in the relationship.
Marcus Silva filed the lawsuit in Galveston and argues that a self-managed abortion is equivalent to murder under Texas law.
The lawsuit appears to break new ground in Texas with Silva alleging that he only recently learnt about the termination July last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – which allowed state abortion laws to take effect.
The lawsuit accuses three women with helping obtain abortion pills and convincing Silva’s then-wife to conceal their ‘murderous actions.’
It comes just days after five women sued the state of Texas after they were denied abortions despite the risk to their lives and their unborn children.
A Texas man is suing his ex-wife’s three friends for $1 million after they helped her get an abortion as a text exchange reveals she was scared he’d ‘use it against her’ to keep her in the relationship
Jonathan Mitchell (pictured), a former state solicitor general who also helped create one of the state’s abortion bans, is representing Silva who is suing for wrongful death and conspiracy
Jonathan Mitchell, a former state solicitor general who also helped create one of the state’s abortion bans, is representing Silva who is suing for wrongful death and conspiracy as well as state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Deer Park Republican.
‘Anyone involved in distributing or manufacturing abortion pills will be sued into oblivion,’ Cain told the Houston Chronicle.
‘That includes CVS and Walgreens if their abortion pills find their way into our state.’
Wendy Davis a senior advisor to Planned Parenthood Texas Votes said she was ‘outraged’ but ‘not surprised’ by the litigation.
‘This lawsuit is a direct result of the dangerous policies championed by Gov. Greg Abbott and his supporters. It is state-sanctioned harassment, and we will not stand for it.’
Silva, who divorced his wife in February 2022 and has two other children with her, is not pursuing legal action against her.
The lawsuit cites a text exchange between the women and Silva’s ex-wife about Aid Access – an organization which send abortion pills through the mail.
According to the lawsuit the women said getting pills in the mail might be ‘murky’ and instead opted to find them in Houston – two of the friends offering their homes for the abortion.
The lawsuit includes screenshots of the text exchanges that also show the ex-wife worrying about Silva’s response to the abortion.
‘I know either way he will use it against me,’ she wrote, adding that he might use it as a reason to stay together or ‘to act like he has some right to the decision.’
The women also expressed concern about Silva in the text messages.
‘I just worry about your emotional state, and he’ll be able to snake his way into your head,’ one said.
‘Delete all conversations from today,’ another wrote. ‘You don’t want him looking through it.’
It comes within days of a landmark lawsuit from five women who are suing the state of Texas after being denied abortions despite risks to their lives and their unborn children, as doctors claim they fear repercussions even in the rare circumstances they are legally allowed to terminate pregnancies.
Texas, like most states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allows exceptions when a physician determines there is a risk of ‘substantial’ harm to the mother or in cases of rape, incest or if the fetus has a fatal diagnosis
Two of the women recently impacted plan to tell their stories on the steps of the Texas Capitol hoping their harrowing experiences will strengthen the ‘catastrophic harms’ they faced, the New York Times reported.
Of the women bringing the suit, some are married, already with children, and all made the difficult choice to terminate because of risks to their lives.
The suit claims that the women risked hemorrhage or life-threatening infection and some doctors refused to suggest options or forward medical records to other providers.
Five women have sued the state of Texas after being denied abortions despite risks to their lives and their unborn children. Amanda Zurawski is one plaintiff (pictured)
The suit does not intend to overturn the abortion laws but instead confirm that Texas law allows physicians to offer abortions when necessary and ‘where the pregnancy is unlikely to result in the birth of a living child with sustained life’
Amanda Zurawski was told she was not ‘sick enough’ to receive an abortion, became septic twice, and was left with one fallopian tube that has permanently closed when denied medical intervention.
‘You don’t think you’re somebody who’s going to need an abortion, let alone an abortion to save my life,’ Zurawski, 35, said to the outlet.
‘If anybody reads my story, I don’t care where they are on the political spectrum, very few people would agree there is anything pro-life about this.’
Zurawski became pregnant in early 2022 after 18 months of fertility treatments.
In her 17th week of pregnancy a scan found that her cervical membranes had begun to prolapse, with specialists telling her that her fetus would not survive.
Doctors said they could only perform an abortion if she became ‘acutely ill’ or the heartbeat of her unborn child stopped.
Zurawski’s waters broke but she did not go into labor. Without amniotic fluid, the fetus would die but it still had a heartbeat, so she was sent home.
She and her husband considered driving to Mexico but were told to stay within 20-minutes of the hospital in case she went into labor, and she feared prosecution.
Zurawski’s health quickly deteriorated but it wasn’t until she had to be rushed to emergency room with a blood infection that doctors finally induced delivery.
She developed a secondary infection and was given a blood transfusion to stabilize her.
‘Every ultrasound is going to be terrifying, not just scary, but traumatic,’ she said.
‘Last time I heard a heartbeat inside of me, I was wishing for it to stop.’
Lauren Miller, 35, another plaintiff, had to sneak out of the state to Colorado for an abortion.
Miller was taken to hospital with severe nausea and vomiting and discovered she’d been carrying twins at six weeks.
At 12 weeks the expecting mother found out that one of her unborn children had a genetic defect called Trisomy 18 including a malformed brain and incomplete abdominal wall and heart.
A specialist told her that she needed to seek an abortion out of state to save her own life and the life of the other twin.
Zurawski became pregnant in early 2022 after 18 months of fertility treatments. Her health quickly deteriorated but it wasn’t until she had to be rushed to emergency room with a blood infection that doctors finally induced delivery
Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is a defendant in the lawsuit along with the state medical board and its director – last year they sued the Biden administration over guidance to provide abortions if necessary
‘The feeling of packing was almost like we were fleeing Texas, which was such a strange feeling,’ she said.
‘I’m from Texas, I have generations of Texans, here we’re fleeing Texas.’
Laruen Hall was 18 weeks pregnant when it was revealed her fetus had no skull and an undeveloped brain. She was also urged to leave the state to seek an abortion.
Hall, 28, said many of her relatives and neighbors considered themselves ‘pro-life’ and that if a fetus had a fatal condition, it was a ‘loophole’ for people seeking an abortion.
‘A lot of them are in support of this ban, but they don’t understand the scale of it,’ she said.
‘They had this very narrow idea of what somebody who seeks an abortion looks like. They think it’s somebody who’s loose, who doesn’t want to take birth control.’
Anti-abortion groups have argued that restrictions on abortions should not harm women’s health and the laws prevent only what these groups call ‘elective’ abortions which are intended to end unwanted pregnancy.
Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is a defendant in the lawsuit along with the state medical board and its director – last year they sued the Biden administration over guidance to provide abortions if necessary.
‘We’re not going to allow left-wing bureaucrats in Washington to transform our hospitals and emergency rooms into walk-in abortion clinics,’ Paxton said at the time.
A memo sent to the outlet from Paxton’s office said that abortions will not be performed unless there is a ‘life threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.’
‘Now that the Supreme Court has finally overturned Roe, I will do everything in my power to protect mothers, families, and unborn children, and to uphold the state laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature.’
The suit does not intend to overturn the abortion laws but instead confirm that Texas law allows physicians to offer abortions when necessary and ‘where the pregnancy is unlikely to result in the birth of a living child with sustained life.’
The women have not sued the medical practitioners that denied them medical intervention as they say many were doing the best they could under the circumstances.
Medication-induced abortion has been a lifeline for women in blue states and even red states since the Supreme Court eliminated the federal guarantee to an abortion
The Texas Medical Association has also asked for more clarity and the lawsuit claims that the five women ‘represent only the tip of the iceberg’ and ‘millions’ from across the country have been denied ‘dignified treatment as equal human beings.’
Most abortions are now banned in 13 states as laws restricting the procedure take effect following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Georgia also bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
In many states, the fight over abortion access is still taking place in courtrooms, where advocates have sued to block enforcement of laws that restrict the procedure. Other states have moved to expand access to abortion by adding legal protections.
The nation’s second-largest retail pharmacy just last week will not sell the abortion-inducing medication mifepristone – even in states where abortion is still legal.
It comes amid growing pressure from anti-abortion policy-makers and activists not to carry the drug. Mifepristone makes up half of the combination used to induce a medication abortion.
Walgreens responded to a letter sent last month by nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general threatening legal action against the company if it stocked the medications.
The chain said it would not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at brick-and-mortar stores in those states. In some of the affected states, such as Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana, using the pills for abortion is still legal.
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