United States: a man files a complaint against women who allegedly helped his ex-wife to have an abortion
Anti-abortion protesters outside Planned Parenthood in Houston, Texas on June 24, 2022 (Illustrative image).
AP - Brett Coomer
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
This is the first such lawsuit in the United States.
In Texas, a man sues three women for helping his ex-wife get an abortion.
The couple already had two children and were in the middle of divorce proceedings in Galveston, south of Houston.
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With our correspondent in Houston,
Thomas Harms
The abortion would have taken place in July 2022, a few days after the Supreme Court's decision
to end Roe vs. Wade
, the right to abortion at the federal level.
The three women are liable to at least five years in prison and the plaintiff wants to obtain a million dollars in damages.
The whole procedure is based on exchanges of text messages, taken in photos and recovered by the former husband.
In the complaint, Marcus Silva accuses his ex-wife of having conspired with two friends to obtain two drugs, which, combined, cause an abortion.
These women would have exchanged information on how to obtain these drugs.
And this, in two ways: by mail, thanks to an international organization Aid Access which sends these drugs by post, or in person in Houston, which they finally chose.
The third accused woman allegedly brought the drugs.
A foreseeable complaint
Olivia Juliana, 21, is part of the Gen-Z for Change organization.
Last summer, she raised $2 million on Twitter for abortion rights.
"
It's cruel and disgusting!"
I'm really disappointed that the federal courts didn't tear down this hateful legislation
,” she said.
But for women's rights advocates, this type of complaint was predictable.
Deja Foxx is an influencer on Instagram, and she was part of the inner circle of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, as a political strategist.
“
It's scary.
This movement of criminalization, surveillance, denunciation of his neighbors, his friends and his family.
This society, this culture is really scary
,” she says.
For the moment, the three women incriminated have not yet been charged.
The ex-girlfriend of Marcus Silva, however, is not the subject of prosecution.
But in Texas, as of 2021 helping someone have an abortion is considered murder in law, and providing these medications is considered a felony.
The case of the abortion pills
Abortion pills are at the heart of the battle for access to abortion in the United States, where 54% of abortions performed are medical.
These stamps are seen as essential for the defenders of this right.
Women in the 15 states where abortion is illegal can travel to neighboring states to obtain the pills, a simpler procedure than surgery.
For the same reasons, opponents of abortion want to ban them at all costs.
The complainant, Marcus Silva, is also represented by a local Republican elected official and by conservative lawyer Jonathan Mitchell, architect of the recent very restrictive Texas law on abortion.
►Also read: Where is the right to abortion in the United States?
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