Texas women sued for wrongful death after aiding in abortion

Authored by apnews.com and submitted by flounder19

FILE - Linda Banes, left, and Ethelene Marshall stand with anti-abortion demonstrators as they gathered to sing and pray outside Planned Parenthood in Houston, June, 24, 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. Three women in Texas are being sued for wrongful death by a man who claims they helped his now-ex-wife obtain medication for an abortion. In a lawsuit filed late Thursday, March 9, 2023, in Galveston County, Texas, Marcus Silva alleges assisting in a self-administered abortion is tantamount to aiding a murder. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Three women in Texas are being sued for wrongful death by a man who claims they helped his now-ex-wife obtain medication for an abortion. It’s another test of state-enforced bans since the U.S. Supreme court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision.

In a lawsuit filed late Thursday in Galveston County, Marcus Silva alleges assisting in a self-administered abortion is tantamount to aiding a murder. Silva is seeking $1 million in damages.

The woman who took the medication in July — weeks after the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion that had been in place since 1973 — is not named in the lawsuit. Texas law protects women who get an abortion from being held liable.

Abortion rights groups condemned the lawsuit, calling it an intimidation tactic.

“This is an outrageous attempt to scare people from getting abortion care and intimidate those who support their friends, family, and community in their time of need,” Autumn Katz, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said Friday in a statement. “The extremists behind this lawsuit are twisting the law and judicial system to threaten and harass people seeking essential care and those who help them.”

Silva is being represented by Jonathan Mitchell — a former Texas solicitor general who helped create one of the state’s abortion bans — attorneys from conservative legal group Thomas More Society and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Houston-area Republican.

“Anyone involved in distributing or manufacturing abortion pills will be sued into oblivion,” Cain said in a statement from the attorneys.

According to the lawsuit, the manufacturer of the pills will also be named as a defendant once it is identified in the discovery process.

The lawsuit claims it has text messages from among the women discussing how to obtain medication that could induce an abortion and how to aid the woman who was pregnant in planning to take the medication.

Lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions have arisen across the U.S. as clinics have shuttered in Republican-dominated states. Earlier this week in Texas — which has one of the strictest bans in the country, outlawing the procedure in nearly every case with the exception of medical emergencies — five women who said they were denied abortions even when pregnancy endangered their lives sued the state .

flounder19 on March 11st, 2023 at 18:22 UTC »

Not gonna link it here because it has a ton of PII but the lawsuit is such a sad read. Plantiff is the ex-husband of the woman who had the abortion and is now going after everyone who helped her

PupLlyodWright on March 11st, 2023 at 17:37 UTC »

“Babies are safe in Texas” and “Defund social services” are the two phrases these people love most

sly_savhoot on March 11st, 2023 at 17:37 UTC »

Texas privatized its child care services . They have been responsible for 100s of children’s deaths IN Texas each year.

I wish I was lying to say they hired out their social services to a for-profit venture.