Late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd once told a Texas TV station he knew he was killing.
Now a baby aborted at his New Mexico clinic has become the plaintiff in a wrongful death lawsuit.
And the lawyers say the way that case ended has never happened in American history.
Late-Term Abortion Clinic Took a Mother on Meth at 26 Weeks
In 2020, a pregnant woman came to Boyd's Albuquerque abortion business, Southwestern Women's Options.
Her baby was 26 weeks old – old enough to survive outside the womb.
She was on methamphetamine, and according to Albuquerque attorney Mike Seibel, the clinic knew it.
She regretted the abortion the next day, Seibel said.
Her lawsuit said a woman under the influence of meth could not give valid informed consent.
According to the complaint, the clinic's records contained no discussion of alternatives, including continuing the pregnancy with help to quit meth.
New Mexico has programs for pregnant women addicted to drugs, Seibel noted.
"You can't consent while you're intoxicated with anything. It's a basic thing," Seibel said.
"So I sued for the wrongful death of the baby."
Aborted Baby's Estate Collected $200,000 in Wrongful Death Settlement
The case, Wabbington v. Boyd, was settled and dismissed with prejudice on September 14.
The defendants were Boyd, who ran the clinic at the time, Emily Cohen, and the late Carmen Landau.
The complaint called the child a "26-week-old viable fetus" and a "person" under New Mexico's Wrongful Death Act, "entitled to equal protection under the law of New Mexico and the United States."
Both the mother and the baby's estate sued.
The estate walked away with $200,000.
"This is the first time that an abortionist has ever been sued for the wrongful death of a baby," Seibel said.
"This case recognized the baby to have an estate, and receive compensation for wrongful death, as a 'person' under New Mexico law," he said.
Seibel brought the case with co-counsel Justin Hall.
New Mexico Wrongful Death Law Already Calls a Viable Unborn Baby a Person
New Mexico is one of the most extreme abortion states in America, with no limit on how late in pregnancy an abortion can happen.
Yet its courts have treated a viable unborn child as a person for more than four decades.
In 1980, a New Mexico appeals court ruled in Salazar v. St. Vincent Hospital that the Wrongful Death Act covers a viable unborn baby, and the state Supreme Court let that ruling stand.
"We hold the legislature of 1882 intended to provide a right of recovery for the wrongful death of a viable fetus," the court wrote.
Seibel didn't argue that the state bans abortion.
He pointed out the contradiction.
"You can collect for the death of the unborn baby as a person, but you can still murder the unborn baby under New Mexico law," he said.
Late-Term Abortionist Curtis Boyd's Clinic Has Paid Before
Boyd has never hidden what he does.
"Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that," he told Austin's KVUE in 2009.
His clinic has been sued before, and Seibel was the lawyer then, too.
In 2017, 23-year-old Keisha Atkins died after a late-term induction abortion at Southwestern Women's Options.
She was six months pregnant, and her family's lawsuit accused the University of New Mexico Hospital of negligently referring her to Boyd's clinic.
She showed signs of sepsis that her lawsuit said the clinic failed to catch and treat.
Southwestern Women's Options paid $900,000 and the University of New Mexico's health sciences center paid $365,000 to settle that case.
Wrongful Death Lawsuits Are Coming for the Abortion Industry
New Mexico isn't alone.
In July 2025, Texas father Jerry Rodriguez sued a California doctor for wrongful death, claiming the abortion pills the doctor mailed caused the wrongful death of his unborn child.
His lawyer is Jonathan Mitchell, the architect of the Texas heartbeat law.
The complaint even included an ultrasound image of an unborn baby boy.
In February 2026, Mitchell added claims under a new Texas law that lets private citizens sue anyone who supplies abortion pills for up to $100,000.
The same inconsistency Seibel exposed runs through American law.
By 2017, 38 states recognized the unborn as persons in their feticide laws, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
The abortion industry insists the child in the womb is nobody.
A New Mexico settlement just treated that child as somebody with an estate, a claim, and a check.
The baby aborted at Boyd's clinic in 2020 will never get to cash it.
But every abortionist in America now knows a dead baby's estate can come after them.
Sources:
- Steven Ertelt, "Aborted Baby Wins Settlement in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Abortionist," LifeNews.com, September 24, 2026.
- Carole Novielli, "Unprecedented: Aborted Baby's Estate Is Awarded Monetary Damages in Lawsuit," Live Action News, September 24, 2026.
- Salazar v. St. Vincent Hospital, New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1980.
- Lisa Graas, "Late-Term Abortionist Curtis Boyd: 'Am I Killing? Yes, I Am,'" Live Action News, November 14, 2011.
- "UNM, Clinic Settle for $1.26M in Late-Term Abortion Death," Albuquerque Journal, May 10, 2019.
- Micaiah Bilger, "University Must Pay Settlement After Woman Is Killed in Botched 6-Month Abortion," LifeNews.com, April 22, 2022.
- Jasmine Baehr, "Texas Man Sues California Doctor Over Mailed Abortion Pills in Landmark Case," Fox News, July 26, 2025.
- "Galveston Man Sues California Doctor Under New Texas Law Allowing Lawsuits Over Abortion Pills," KPRC Click2Houston, February 2, 2026.
- Tim Bradley, "A Person's a Person: Inconsistent Treatment of the Unborn in the Law," Charlotte Lozier Institute, January 18, 2017.
