AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Three ladies in Texas are being sued for wrongful demise by a person who claims they helped his now-ex-wife receive remedy for an abortion. It’s one other take a look at of state-enforced bans for the reason that U.S. Supreme courtroom overturned the Roe v. Wade determination.
In a lawsuit filed late Thursday in Galveston County, Marcus Silva alleges aiding in a self-administered abortion is tantamount to aiding a homicide. Silva is looking for $1 million in damages.
The lady who took the remedy in July — weeks after the Supreme Courtroom struck down the constitutional proper to abortion that had been in place since 1973 — is just not named within the lawsuit. Texas legislation protects ladies who get an abortion from being held liable.
Abortion rights teams condemned the lawsuit, calling it an intimidation tactic.
“That is an outrageous try and scare individuals from getting abortion care and intimidate those that assist their buddies, household, and group of their time of want,” Autumn Katz, a lawyer with the Middle for Reproductive Rights, mentioned Friday in a press release. “The extremists behind this lawsuit are twisting the legislation and judicial system to threaten and harass individuals looking for important care and people who assist them.”
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Silva is being represented by Jonathan Mitchell — a former Texas solicitor common who helped create one of many state’s abortion bans — attorneys from conservative authorized group Thomas Extra Society and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Houston-area Republican.
“Anybody concerned in distributing or manufacturing abortion drugs might be sued into oblivion,” Cain mentioned in a press release from the attorneys.
In accordance with the lawsuit, the producer of the drugs can even be named as a defendant as soon as it’s recognized within the discovery course of.
The lawsuit claims it has textual content messages from among the many ladies discussing methods to receive remedy that might induce an abortion and methods to help the lady who was pregnant in planning to take the remedy.
Lawsuits difficult abortion restrictions have arisen throughout the U.S. as clinics have shuttered in Republican-dominated states. Earlier this week in Texas — which has one of many strictest bans within the nation, outlawing the process in almost each case aside from medical emergencies — 5 ladies who mentioned they had been denied abortions even when being pregnant endangered their lives sued the state.