(NewsNation) — A man in Texas is suing three women in Texas for allegedly providing abortion pills to his ex-wife, in a lawsuit that is the first of its kind. Two of the defendants are countersuing and the case is being closely watched by legal experts.

Marcus Silva sued Jackie Noyola and Amy Carpenter, along with a third woman, for wrongful death after he says they helped Brittni Silva, his former spouse, obtain the pills needed for a medical abortion. He’s suing them for $1 million each and is being represented by the lawyer who helped design a Texas law that uses civil penalties to discourage people from providing abortions.

The Texas law went into effect before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and it allows for civil lawsuits against people who perform abortions, but not against those who seek them out. Brittni Silva’s abortion also took place before a post-Roe trigger law banned nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in the state.

In their countersuit, Noyola and Carpenter say Marcus Silva went through his wife’s phone without her consent to obtain the text messages he used when filing his lawsuit. That, they say, violated their privacy. Those texts show Brittni Silva and her friends discussing her pregnancy and determining how far along she was.

Marcus Silva says he didn’t know about the abortion at the time, but legal filings confirm he may have been aware of Brittni Silva’s plans prior to her self-administering an abortion. At the time, the couple had already filed for divorce but were still living together.

Noyola and Carpenter claim Marcus Silva discovered a mifepristone pill, used to induce an abortion, in his wife’s purse, but returned it there without saying anything to her. They say his goal wasn’t to prevent Brittni Silva from terminating her pregnancy, but to use the information to control her and drag out the couple’s divorce proceedings.

Noyola and Carpenter say Marcus Silva had a pattern of emotionally abusive behavior toward his wife, including demeaning her in public, hiding her car keys to prevent her from leaving and threatening the family dog.

The women also say Marcus Silva failed to provide any proof that his wife was pregnant or that the terminated pregnancy would have been viable.

The case sets out a legal conflict between Marcus Silva’s claims under Texas’ wrongful death statute and another Texas law that makes it a crime to access a person’s computer without consent.

It also raises questions about what qualifies as a wrongful death under Texas law. The statute requires that a death be caused by someone intentionally or recklessly and conduct that is legally wrong. The Texas ban on abortion had not yet been passed when the events in the lawsuit took place.

If Marcus Silva’s suit succeeds, it could also be a win for anti-abortion activists, because it would affirm the concept of fetal personhood. Central to the debate has been the concept that embryos and fetuses should have the same rights as a person, even before they would be considered viable — having the ability to survive outside the womb.