A Texas man has given up on a lawsuit seeking at least $1 million each from three women he says helped his ex-wife obtain abortion pills, after he found no support in state courts. Marcus Silva dropped the case in a filing Thursday, the Washington Post reports. He had sued, the first such case under Texas' almost total ban on abortions enacted after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in March 2023. Silva argued that helping someone obtain an abortion constitutes murder under Texas' homicide law and its abortion ban. There was no financial settlement, one of the defendants said. Supporters of abortion rights consider the lawsuit's end a victory.
One of the defendants, a friend of Silva's ex-wife, called the lawsuit "a disgusting abuse of power," per the Post. "You can't use the legal system to bully and harass your victims," Amy Carpenter said. Jackie Noyola, who also was named in the suit, said in a statement, "While we are grateful that this fraudulent case is finally over, we are angry for ourselves and others who have been terrorized for the simple act of supporting a friend who is facing abuse." Silva, who identified himself in the suit as the "father of the unborn child" and said his ex-wife had concealed her pregnancy from him before their divorce, received a similar reception from judges. A Texas Supreme Court justice criticized Silva's "disgracefully vicious harassment and intimidation of his ex-wife." (More Texas abortion law stories.)
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