Four years after the abortion, an Arizona man is suing his ex-wife's clinic.
According to ProPublica, Mario Villegas and his wife went to get an abortion in July of last year. Villegas heard about a man who sued an Alabama clinic after creating an estate for a six-week old embryo. He set out to do the same thing.
His wife sought legal aid after he filed a petition to become the representative to the "Baby Villegas" estate.
According to court documents, J. Stanley Martineau argued that his ex-wife did not give a valid form of consent to the abortion.
The lawsuit says that the clinic did not inform her of the risks associated with abortion that a reasonable patient would consider.
ProPublica reported that Villegas's ex-wife checked a box saying she was comfortable with her decision to end the pregnancy.
According to ProPublica, Villegas considers the terminated embryo to be a girl. Villegas and his wife didn't know the sex of the embryo.
At the time of the abortion, the woman said she and her ex- husband had been talking about divorcing.
She stated in a deposition that they were not happy together.
The move to become the embryo's representative violated her right to an abortion according to her attorney.
"U.S. Supreme Court precedent has long protected the constitutional right of a woman to obtain an abortion, including that the decision whether to do so belongs to the woman alone."
The legality of abortion was left in the hands of individual states after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision.
It is now illegal in at least 22 states to get an abortion after the Supreme Court's decision. There will be additional restrictions in other states.
Martineau doesn't want to win any financial damages.
He wants to make sure it doesn't happen to another father.
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