Anti-abortion activists across the country are preparing to rev up their attacks on abortion rights with the help of a second Trump presidency. And buried in the lede of a new Washington Post article detailing some of their forthcoming strategies is an especially chilling threat from Texas’ top anti-abortion organization, Texas Right to Life. As the Post put it, the organization “is planning a new wave of legal action in early 2025, looking for men interested in suing people who helped their female partners get abortions.” Texas Right to Life President John Seago smugly told the outlet that his organization has been sitting on this strategy, waiting until after the election to conceal the anti-abortion movement’s extremism and help elect Trump: “You will see lawsuits filed now that were strategically not filed before the election.”
"Abusers have turned to our legal systems to deny their victims bodily autonomy and further harass them for probably as long as our legal system has existed," Farah Diaz-Tello, senior legal counsel at the reproductive justice organization If/When/How, told Jezebel. "We aren’t surprised that antiabortion advocates are capitalizing on abusers’ misuse of the legal system to further their campaign of fear and terror against abortion seekers." Texas Right to Life's approach seems meant to intimidate potential abortion seekers from traveling out-of-state for abortion—which remains 100% legal, despite rising Republican threats—or obtaining abortion pills and self-managing their abortions, which also remains legal, pending future action from the incoming Trump administration.
We’ve already seen several cases of Texas men attempting to take legal action against ex-partners for alleged abortions. One man, Marcus Silva, aided by the notoriously underhanded anti-abortion attorney Jonathan Mitchell, waged a nearly two-year legal campaign against three women who helped his ex-wife obtain abortion pills. Silva and Mitchell filed a “wrongful death” lawsuit against the women in 2023, claiming they helped his ex-wife have an abortion in July 2022 “without [his] knowledge or consent.” The suit argued abortion is murder; it didn’t directly invoke Texas’ abortion laws, but reflected the model of Texas’ SB 8, a ban that opens the door for people to sue anyone who allegedly helped someone have an abortion for at least $10,000. Silva and Mitchell sought $1 million in damages before ultimately dropping the suit in October; as one of the women put it while speaking to Jezebel last month, “The claims were only dropped because they had nothing. We did nothing wrong, and we would do it all again.”
But Mitchell has reportedly partnered with other men in the stat. In March, Mitchell helped a Texas man file a legal complaint to try to depose his ex-partner for allegedly traveling out-of-state for abortion. The petition, which refers to the alleged abortion as “murder” 23 times, claims that this is wrongful death under Texas state law and cites SB 8. The man says he intends to identify who helped his ex-partner have an abortion and sue everyone involved. In May, the Texas Tribune reported that Mitchell filed nine similar legal petitions targeting people over abortions, primarily against providers and advocates—but in at least one case, Mitchell is representing another Texas man attempting to sue his ex-partner for her alleged abortion. In a filing obtained by the Tribune, that woman’s lawyers said Mitchell’s strategy endangers women everywhere, because if judges listen to him, “any scorned lover could harass or intimidate their ex … for simply receiving a false-positive pregnancy test.”
If Mitchell’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s responsible for an array of tricky, dangerous anti-abortion legislation and legal schemes that are quickly being replicated across the country. He’s the architect of SB 8, as well as county ordinances across Texas that attempt to outlaw use of highways for abortion-related travel.
Abortion laws and, particularly, confusion about who is and isn’t threatened with criminal charges under these laws, have become a frightening tool at the disposal of abusive partners. In June, the National Domestic Violence Hotline published a survey on reproductive coercion (acts of control over your partner’s reproductive decisions) showing that since Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, 5% of over 3,000 survey respondents (close to 200 people) said their partners threatened to report them to police or other authorities for considering abortion. Another 5% said partners threatened to sue or take them to court if they sought abortion. In 2023, the Hotline reported a 99% surge in calls about reproductive coercion within the first year since Dobbs.
Diaz-Tello stressed that since Dobbs, "abusers have been emboldened by actual laws and language from anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers to weaponize laws against their ex-partners." Consequently, this is "forcing survivors to weigh the risks of their abusive relationships against their access to abortion."
This isn’t Texas Right to Life’s first time trying to recruit snitches and effectively wield citizen police to enforce their extremist agenda. Back in 2021, when SB 8 took effect, they briefly operated a hotline for people to report anyone suspected of helping someone have an abortion. The hotline was shut down after it was rendered useless and inundated with Shrek memes and other trolling.
In a statement shared with Jezebel, Marc Hearron, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, accused Texas Right to Life of "trying to scare Texans from getting the health care they need, seeking to pit neighbor against neighbor." The organization represents a Texas woman facing legal harassment from her ex-partner, who's represented by Mitchell. Hearron referred to the man as "a vengeful, abusive ex-husband."
"Pregnancy can be one of the most dangerous times in an abusive relationship," Diaz-Tello said. "It’s disgusting that anti-abortion advocates would collude with abusers to punish their victims for trying to keep themselves safe.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence and seeking options to safely access abortion care, you can get support from If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline here or call 844-868-2812.
