Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a Texas man is suing three friends of his ex-wife, alleging that they assisted her in breaking the law by helping her obtain abortion medicine.
On Thursday, Marcus Silva sued the three ladies in Galveston County for conspiracy and wrongful death. To bolster Silva’s assertions that the three ladies planned to buy the drugs and hide their activities, screenshots of text messages are included in the case.
Understanding Texas Law
According to Texas law, his ex-wife is not named as a defendant since she is immune from guilt in the case. NBC News is not calling Silva’s ex-wife; the three women sued.
He and Silva’s wife split in February, but they were still together when she became pregnant in July. Silva’s complaint does not explain why his ex-wife decided to end the pregnancy, but it appears from the texts that she had already decided to leave him.
“I know either way he will use it against me,” she wrote to her friends, according to the text messages included in the complaint. “If I told him before, which I’m not, he would use it as (a way) to try to stay with me.”
The texts are not dated, but some states had passed trigger laws that restricted abortion after the June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling by the Supreme Court, which eliminated the right to abortion as a constitutional right. Despite these laws, the three ladies allegedly communicated information on Texas abortion resources, according to screenshots in the lawsuit.
The women also talked about the prospect of seeking abortion treatment outside of their home country. Silva’s ex-wife once spoke to someone who could direct her “to spots in New Mexico and Colorado,” according to her.
According to the texts, one woman shared a link and screenshots of information regarding abortion medicine, emphasizing that it could be performed safely at home. The drugs were still available in the state, according to communications she shared from an unidentified source, but the legality of obtaining them online and having them mailed was “murky.”
According to the texts, Silva’s ex-wife informs the group that she is ready to take the tablets. Then she told her pals how much she appreciated their assistance. She wrote, “I’m so lucky to have you all. “Really.”
Using the date of her last menstruation and the time of ovulation, the woman attempted to estimate how far along she was in her pregnancy. According to the texts, they determined she was only five or six weeks along. According to the readers, the woman chose a day to start the process after determining she was still well within the window to take the medications safely.
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One of the friends later wrote, “Delete all discussions from today. More than 20 years ago, the Food and Drug Administration granted mifepristone approval to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks. The regimen is secure and efficient when used with the second medicine, misoprostol.
Abortion is no longer permitted in Texas after six weeks as of September 1, 2022. Following that, NBC News reported last year that requests for abortion drugs through resource organizations like Aid Access soared. The Texas law passed in December prohibits doctors from writing prescriptions for patients for abortion medicine, despite the FDA’s assurance that it will continue to allow its delivery through the mail.
An anti-abortion group filed a lawsuit in Texas last month to completely ban mifepristone. According to the committee, the government should not have made mifepristone available through telehealth during the Covid epidemic since it was not sufficiently evaluated for safety.
Reuter Politics tweeted that a Texas man sued three women for helping his ex-wife obtain abortion pills. You can take a look below.
Texas man sues 3 women for helping his ex-wife obtain abortion pills https://t.co/DLU7sVIocS pic.twitter.com/HZtjDJJRO1
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) March 12, 2023
The administration of President Joe Biden has retaliated, submitting a letter claiming that the advantages of mifepristone outweigh any hazards. In addition to claiming that the medication is safe, the government also asserted that its removal from the market would “dramatically impair” public interest.
After receiving letters threatening legal action from the attorneys general of 20 states, the national pharmacy giant Walgreens stated earlier this month that it would stop selling abortion drugs in those states.
According to Walgreens, it responded to each attorney general and promised not to mail or sell abortion drugs in certain states. While some states, like Texas, have imposed limits on the drug, others, like Florida, permit its legitimate sale.