UNCIVIL CASE

Arizona Man Sues Clinic Over Abortion Given to His Ex-Wife Four Years Ago

Legal experts fear similar lawsuits could be used to harass plaintiffs’ exes in future.

Nearly four years after a woman had an abortion, her ex-husband is suing the clinic that provided her the pills with which she terminated her unwanted pregnancy. A judge allowed the man to create an estate for the seven-week-old embryo. In 2020, the ex-husband then filed a wrongful death suit against the clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, and its medical staff, claiming the doctors hadn’t obtained informed consent from the woman required by state law. Legal experts fear the unusual strategy in the case might become more commonly used in future attempts to intimidate abortion providers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion. It could also be used to harass the former romantic partners of people bringing cases, critics fear.