Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
A man in Texas who sued his ex-wife’s friends for helping her to obtain an abortion “is not and was not morally opposed” to her actions, the friends have claimed in a countersuit filed this week. Instead, they allege, he knew about her plans all along, but chose not to act as part of a yearslong pattern of emotional abuse.
Marcus Silva made national headlines in March for bringing a wrongful-death suit against three women—his wife Brittni’s friends Jackie Noyola and Amy Carpenter, and Texas abortion rights activist Aracely Garcia—in what was believed to be first such case since Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last June. In his suit, Silva alleged that the women “conspired” to help Brittni get an abortion pill in July 2022, aiding in what he called the “murder” of his unborn child.
But Silva, “did not file this lawsuit because he is interested in ‘protecting life,’” Brittni’s friends said in their counterclaim. “Instead, he wanted to control a life, Brittni’s.”