Exclusive – Peter Breen: Thomas More Society Hopes to Take On Abortion Pill Distribution Networks in Texas Lawsuit

The Thomas More Society is looking to challenge abortion pill distribution networks in a wrongful death lawsuit it filed on behalf of a Texas man against three women who allegedly helped his then-wife abort their baby, Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation Peter Breen said on Monday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily. 

As Breitbart News previously reported, the plaintiff, Marcus Silva, is accusing Jackie Noyola, Amy Carpenter, and Aracely Garcia of assisting his then-wife Brittni Silva in an unlawful abortion by providing her with illegally obtained abortion pills and conspiring with her to conceal the pregnancy and the abortion from him. The civil lawsuit was filed in Galveston County District Court, and the lead attorney is former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell, who is known for helping craft the Texas Heartbeat Act, SB 8. That law bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected and contains a unique enforcement mechanism whereby any private citizen may file a civil lawsuit against an abortion provider or any other individual who “aids or abets” a “criminal abortion.”

Today, I stood outside the Texas Capitol to celebrate the six-month mark of SB 8 “The Texas Heartbeat Act.” Every single day this law remains in effect: it’s estimated 100 babies are saved from the dark clutches of abortion. 

I’ll never stop fighting for the lives of the unborn. pic.twitter.com/PF7SJtpxTw

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 28, 2022

Breen said Thomas More Society attorneys, after initially filing the lawsuit, discovered that Aracely Garcia is allegedly employed by the New York City -based National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice and has been extensively involved with that organization since at least 2018. Mitchell subsequently sent a litigation-hold letter to the pro-abortion organization on March 16, telling the group to preserve all records related to Garcia and any involvement that the organization “might have with obtaining or distributing abortion pills, including the abortion pills that were used to murder baby Silva.”

“We intend to take discovery from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice to determine whether Ms. Garcia acted within the scope of her employment when she participated in the murder of Mr. Silva’s child. We will also take discovery on whether anyone at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice assisted Ms. Garcia in obtaining or distributing abortion pills,” the letter reads.

LISTEN: 

Breen called the discovery of Garcia’s alleged place of employment a “big finding” so early in the case, and said it could potentially lay the groundwork for expanding the lawsuit to abortion pill networks and even abortion pill manufacturers in the future. As for further progress on the case, Breen said Thomas More Society has not heard an answer yet to its complaint.

“We’d like to get to the abortion pill distribution networks. If we can go all the way back to the manufacturer, we’re glad to do that too. Finding out early-on here that a national abortion organization may employ one of the defendants — that was a pretty big finding,” he said. “I’m hoping that we are going to have more big findings that will help us to uncover these people doing crimes in the state of Texas and other pro-life states.” 

“So if these three ladies are involved in illegal abortion pill distribution, maybe in other parts of Texas or what have you, we could really… save a lot of lives and really uncover illegal abortion practice in a state like Texas, where abortion is illegal. And hopefully [we can] lay some groundwork where, if your state is one that protects unborn lives, [those laws are] effective — it’s not a paper protection, it’s an actual, real-life protection,” he continued.

Breen further reflected on how the Thomas More Society has taken shape since its inception in 1997, when founder Tom Brejcha officially stepped away from his career as a corporate attorney to help pro-life leaders fight the abortion industry. Beginning as a “grassroots small donor-supported organization” the national public interest law firm has fought some of the most formative pro-life cases of this generation, standing by activists such as Live Action’s Lila Rose, David Daleiden, and more recently, Mark Houck, a Catholic father of seven.

“We are trial lawyers who want to defend people who are doing the effective work at the clinics, in their pregnancy centers, on the streets — doing the tough work,” Breen said. “So, we don’t just look at the case and go, ‘oh, can we take this to the Supreme Court?’… We go, ‘Hey, who needs help, and who’s doing good work?’ And that’s where we inject ourselves.”

Thomas More Society’s “About” page states that it is dedicated to upholding “your freedom of speech and your freedom of religion in the public square” and works to protect traditional family values and parental rights “when they are threatened by secular society.” The firm notes that it has seen a “growing hostility in our secular culture toward upholding the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death.”

“That’s just always been our heart. … We’re more the ‘little guy’ defender,” Breen added. “That has been our trademark over the years: we are there when you get in trouble. The first place people call is us, so we have been blessed and honored for that.”

The case is Silva v. Noyola, No. 23-cv-375 in the District Court of Galveston County.

Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.