In one case, first reported by the Texas Tribune, the ex-partner filed screenshots from his former wife’s group chat to support his claim that her friends conspired to assist her in getting an abortion. The case may fail, but it has already helped the ex-partner to further intimidate his former wife. She knew that even before he began. In one message filed with the ex’s complaint, she stated directly, “I know either way he will use it against me.… If I told him before, which I’m not, he would use it as [a way to] try to stay with me. And after the fact, I know he will try to act like he has some right to the decision.” Her friends have filed a countersuit against the ex, in which they claim that he had access to their group chat before he said his ex-wife had an abortion. “He wasn’t interested in stopping her from terminating a possible pregnancy,” their complaint states. “Instead, he wanted to obtain evidence he could use against her if she refused to stay under his control, which is precisely what he tried to do.” This man apparently saw an opportunity to continue to punish his former wife, even after she had left him, through the use of the law.
“State collusion with abusers has meant that survivors of intimate partner violence have faced criminal investigations, subpoenas for survivors’ private health information, family regulation system interventions, and even prosecution and convictions for self-managing an abortion or experiencing a pregnancy loss,” said Ling. Anti-abortion laws such as Texas’s Senate Bill 8 allow abusers to use the legal system to isolate their former partners from the support they need. “It’s a disgusting gift by the state to abusers,” Ling said.
