A Texas man is suing three friends of his ex-wife, alleging they helped her obtain abortion medication in violation of state law after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year.
Marcus Silva filed a wrongful death and conspiracy lawsuit Thursday in Galveston County against the three women. He includes images of text messages in the lawsuit to support his allegations that the three women arranged to obtain the pills and conceal their actions.
His ex-wife is exempt from liability in the case, the lawsuit states, and is not a named defendant. NBC News is not naming the three women defendants or Silva’s ex-wife.
Silva and his wife divorced in February, but were still married when she conceived in July. It’s not clear from Silva’s lawsuit why her ex-wife decided to terminate her pregnancy, but it appears that in her alleged text messages she had already planned to call it quits by then.
«I know he will use it against me either way,» he allegedly wrote to friends. «If I told him earlier, that I’m not, he would use it as (a way) to try to stay with me.»
The alleged messages are not dated, but some states passed trigger laws restricting abortion that took effect after the official ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health on June 24. According to screenshots in the lawsuit, the three women shared information about abortion resources. in Texas despite such laws.
The women also discussed the possibility of traveling out of state for care. At one point, Silva’s ex-wife had spoken with someone who could refer her «to places in New Mexico and Colorado.»
One woman shared a link and screenshots with information on abortion medications, noting that it could be done safely at home, according to the texts. She shared messages from an unknown person saying the pill was still available in the state, but the legality of ordering it online and shipping it was «murky.»
Silva’s wife tells the group that she would be willing to take the pills, according to the texts. Then she told her friend that her aid «means the world» to her.
«I’m so lucky to have all of you,» she wrote. «Actually.»
The women then tried to guess how far along in the pregnancy she was using her last period and ovulation period, and calculated that she was only five or six weeks old, depending on the texts. Determining that she was still within the window to safely take the pills, the women chose a day to begin the process, the texts said.
«Delete all conversations for today,» one of the friends wrote later.
Mifepristone was approved by the Food and Drug Administration more than 20 years ago to terminate a pregnancy of up to 10 weeks. Taken with a second medication, misoprostol, the regimen is highly effective.
The Texas law banning abortion after six weeks went into effect on September 1, 2022. Requests for abortion pills through resource organizations like Aid Access spiked afterward, NBC News reported last year.
The FDA said it would continue to allow abortion medications to be delivered by mail, but Texas law passed in December prohibits medical professionals from prescribing them to patients.
Last month, an anti-abortion group filed a lawsuit in Texas in an attempt to remove mifepristone entirely. The group alleges that the government did not adequately assess the safety of mifepristone and should not have made it accessible via telehealth during the covid pandemic.
President Joe Biden’s administration fought back, filing a response saying the benefits of mifepristone outweigh any risks. The government has also stated that the drug is not only safe, but that «the public interest would be dramatically harmed» if mifepristone were withdrawn from the market.
Walgreens, a nationwide drugstore chain, announced earlier this month that it would no longer sell abortion drugs in 20 states after its attorneys general sent a letter threatening legal action. Walgreens said it responded to each attorney general and said it would not sell abortion pills, by mail order or in its stores, in those states.
Some of those states, including Texas, have passed restrictions on the drug, but others, like Florida, still allow its legal sale.