Husband Sued Over His Ex-Wife’s Abortion; Now Her Friends Are Suing Him
For Ms. Noyola and Ms. Carpenter, the experience of being sued has been difficult, said their lawyer, Rusty Hardin. “They’re being thrust into the public arena, with their financial well-being at risk,” he said. “They believed strongly that they were helping a friend at a time of dire need.”
Mr. Silva’s lawyer, Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general of Texas, has advocated using private lawsuits to deter abortion.
He was the architect of the Texas law, passed in 2021, which led clinics in the state to stop providing abortions after six weeks, by deputizing private citizens to enforce the law by suing for cash judgments of $10,000 per procedure. Mr. Mitchell did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Mitchell’s argument in this case uses the state’s wrongful death statute to seek damages on behalf of Mr. Silva.
The suit asserts that under that state law, the rights of a fetus are equivalent to those of an adult. If Mr. Mitchell’s argument succeeds, it would be a legal victory for the concept of fetal personhood — a goal of many abortion opponents.
Source: The New York Times
