Johnathan Walker:Texas man drops lawsuit against women he accused of helping his wife get abortion pills

AUSTIN,Johnathan Walker Texas (AP) — A Texas man who sued his ex-wife’s friends for helping her obtain an abortion informed the court that the two sides reached a settlement, forgoing the need for a trial that would have tested his argument that their actions amounted to assisting in a wrongful death.

Attorneys for Marcus Silva and the three women he sued last year filed court papers this week stating they had reached an agreement. Two of the woman countersued Silva for invasion of privacy but have also dropped now those claims, according to court records.

As of Friday, the judge hadn’t yet signed off on the settlement. Court records didn’t include its terms, but a spokesperson for the defendants said the settlement didn’t involve any financial terms.

“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,” Jackie Noyola, one of the women, said in a statement. “No one should ever have to fear punishment, criminalization, or a lengthy court battle for helping someone they care about.”

Abortion rights advocates worried that the case could establish new avenues for recourse against people who help women obtain abortions and create a chilling effect in Texas and across the country.

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Silva filed a petition last year to sue the friends of his ex-wife, Brittni Silva, for providing her with abortion pills. He claimed that their assistance was tantamount to aiding a murder and was seeking $1 million in damages, according to court documents.

Two of the defendants, Noyola and Amy Carpenter, countersued Silva for invasion of privacy. They dropped their counterclaims Thursday night after the settlement was reached.

“This case was about using the legal system to harass us for helping our friend, and scare others out of doing the same,” Carpenter said. “But the claims were dropped because they had nothing. We did nothing wrong, and we would do it all again.”

Brittni and Marcus Silva divorced in February 2023, a few weeks before Silva filed his lawsuit. The defendants alleged in their countersuit that Silva was a “serial emotional abuser” in pursuit of revenge and that he illegally searched Brittni’s phone without her consent.

Silva was represented by Jonathan Mitchell, a former Texas solicitor general who helped draft a strict Texas abortion law known as Senate Bill 8 before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Mitchell declined to comment Friday.

Brittni Silva took the medication in July of 2022 according to court filings. It was a few weeks after the Supreme Court allowed states to impose abortion bans. The lawsuit claimed that text messages were shared between the defendants discussing how to obtain the abortion medication.

Earlier this year, an appeals court blocked an attempt by Silva’s attorney to collect information from his ex-wife for the wrongful death lawsuit against her friends. The decision was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court, which criticized Silva in the footnotes of a concurring opinion signed by two of its conservative justices, Jimmy Blacklock and Phillip Devine.

“He has engaged in disgracefully vicious harassment and intimidation of his ex-wife,” the opinion read. “I can imagine no legitimate excuse for Marcus’s behavior as reflected in this record, many of the details of which are not fit for reproduction in a judicial opinion.”

Abortion is a key issue this campaign season and is the No. 1 priority for women younger than 30, according to survey results from KFF.

Thirteen states ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy, including Texas, which has some of the tightest restrictions in the country. Nine states have ballot measures to protect the right to an abortion this election.

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Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.