A Texas man is seeking a court order so he can depose a woman he was dating who traveled to Colorado to get an abortion, in a case that could have ramifications in ongoing legal battles over the right to abortion.
Collin Davis, a Brazos County resident, filed a lawsuit in March stating that on Feb. 20 — the day after he learned the woman planned to have an abortion — he retained the services of a lawyer, who sent the woman a letter asking her to preserve all her rights. documents relating to her plans to terminate the pregnancy.
According to the petition, the letter warned that he would “file wrongful death lawsuits against anyone involved in the murder of his unborn child.”
Davis contends the deposition is necessary to determine whether there was a violation of Texas’ wrongful death statute, which the motion references alongside a Texas civil code that includes among those defined as individuals ” an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization to birth.” Her petition also highlights Texas’ six-week civil abortion ban, known as SB 8.
The woman filed a motion to have court records sealed so that her identity remains anonymous, her attorney told CNN. She started dating Davis in November 2023 and discovered she was pregnant in January, according to the petition.
The case, reported Friday by the Washington Post, is cited by abortion rights supporters who fear that abortion advocates will use — or at least threaten to use — strict abortion laws. abortion to target abortions obtained, even in states where the procedure is legal. The Texas law, passed in 2021, targets doctors and people involved in facilitating abortions, not women who undergo the procedure themselves, but opponents say legal uncertainty over restrictions in a post-war America -Roe results in intimidating women.
Davis is seeking the deposition to obtain information about the people involved in the abortion, including the identity of the doctor who performed the procedure in Colorado, and he plans to file a lawsuit against each of them, according to court filings.
Davis is represented by Jonathan Mitchell, a well-known attorney and abortion rights opponent who also represented former President Donald Trump in his Colorado trial.
Mitchell helped craft SB 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, which uses a new civil enforcement mechanism to ban abortions after fetal heart activity is detected, a point typically around six weeks after the start of a pregnancy. Davis cited the law in his deposition motion.
CNN has contacted Davis for comment.
Mitchell said in a statement: “Fathers of aborted fetuses can file wrongful death lawsuits in states that prohibit abortion, even if the abortion occurs out of state. They can sue anyone who paid for the abortion, anyone who aided or abetted the trip, and anyone involved in the manufacture or distribution of abortion drugs.
Critics denounce legal maneuvers
The case is seen by some abortion rights advocates as an example of the new legal landscape facing women who seek abortions, even by legal means.
“We don’t think there’s any basis (for a lawsuit),” Marc Hearron, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the woman, told CNN. “It’s perfectly legal to leave Texas or any state and get an abortion in a state where it’s legal. And it is perfectly legal to help someone or be involved in someone leaving the state and obtaining an abortion where the law allows it.
Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade “opened the door to this kind of frightening and unacceptable fear-mongering and harassment from a citizen.” against another. »
Mitchell led other legal efforts in the wake of Texas’ abortion law. Last June, he represented a man who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against three friends of his ex-wife who allegedly helped her terminate her pregnancy with abortion drugs, in a first legal test of the scope of wrongful death laws following Roe. reversal. This matter has not yet been resolved.
It’s unclear whether Davis’ petition could lead to a lawsuit against the woman, said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University.
“I absolutely don’t think there’s any basis for that,” he said. “But we no longer know exactly what the Texas courts will say, at any level.”
Other Republican-led states have sought to pressure women not to seek abortions in other states, particularly minors. Last year, the Idaho Legislature passed a bill — later blocked by a judge on constitutionality grounds — that would prohibit adults from helping minors cross state lines to get abort without parental permission. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Legislature is proposing legislation that would similarly criminalize so-called “abortion trafficking” for minors in the state.
“This is all part of an intimidation campaign to make people fear that if they leave the state and get an abortion, they or their loved ones could be prosecuted,” Hearron said. “We really want to emphasize that you shouldn’t intimidate people. »
Temple University Law School Dean Rachel Rebouché called Davis’ legal maneuvering “bizarre and concerning” but said it was not “surprising.”
“I think we’ll see a lot more of this sort of thing in the years to come, as long as Dobbs is on the books. And frankly, that’s exactly the type of example we should be citing when we talk about when the Supreme Court should overturn Dobbs,” Rebouché told CNN.
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