Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Texas Women Hit With Wrongful Death Lawsuit After ‘Aiding’ In An Abortion

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Three women were sued Thursday for wrongful death after they helped someone obtain an abortion, marking what is likely the first lawsuit brought under Texas’ abortion ban, according to Reuters.

Plaintiff Marcus Silva is seeking $1 million in damages from each of the three women who helped his ex-wife, Brittni Silva, obtain the abortion pills she used in July 2022, Reuters reported. Two of the women supplied links to websites where the pill could be found and offered to allow Brittni Silva to complete the abortion in their homes, text messages included in the lawsuit show. Another woman allegedly helped deliver the pills to Silva in Houston.

“Defendants Noyola, Carpenter, and Garcia all knew that they were aiding or abetting a self-managed abortion, which is a wrongful act and a criminal act of murder under Texas law,” the lawsuit says, according to Reuters.

Brittni Silva is not a defendant in the lawsuit because Texas law prevents pregnant women from being prosecuted.

Republican Texas House Rep. Briscoe Cain and former Solicitor General of Texas Jonathan Mitchell, who developed Texas’ Heartbeat Act banning abortion once cardiac activity is detected, are representing Marcus Silva in court.

“Anyone involved in distributing or manufacturing abortion pills will be sued into oblivion,” Cain said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

Texas currently bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy under three laws: the Heartbeat Act that took effect Sept. 1, 2021; the “Trigger Ban,” HB 1280,  which makes it a felony carrying fines of at least $100,000 to perform an abortion, and a ban from 1925 that was approved for enforcement after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June.

Briscoe Cain and Jonathan Mitchell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.