Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards has been accused — for the second time — of attempting to coerce a woman to abort his child. But this time, the woman didn’t buckle under the pressure.
Ayesha Howard, 36, discovered she was pregnant in January of 2024, and Edwards (age 23) was allegedly not happy; in court documents related to a paternity case, Howard included text messages from Edwards telling her to “get da abortion.” When she told him that she would not get an abortion, he reportedly ghosted her; later, when she asked if he hated her, he replied, “[Yes.] Because you bringing a child in the world that’s gone [sic] be without a father.”
What’s striking about this remark is that it’s as if Edwards sees growing up fatherless as a greater evil than killing a child whom he helped to create with a woman (or women) who is not his wife. About 87% of women who seek abortions are unmarried — but they aren’t creating children all by themselves. A man and woman who create a child together are already parents; if they choose abortion, they become the parents of a dead child.
Edwards’ and Howard’s daughter, Aubri Summers Howard, was born in October, and Howard is fighting to be awarded legal and physical custody of their daughter. In the court filings, she wrote:
Upon informing Anthony of the pregnancy, he blocked me on all communication platforms and made it clear, through text messages, that he did not want to be involved in the life of our child. His exact words were that our daughter would be a ‘fatherless child.’
From that point on, Anthony never reached out to me to inquire about my well-being, the well-being of our child, or any of the needs I had during my pregnancy. I did not receive any support—emotional, financial, or otherwise — throughout the entire duration of my pregnancy.
In 2023, Instagram model Paige Jordae had a relationship with Edwards which resulted in a pregnancy. Edwards was already expecting a child with his girlfriend at the time, Jeanine Robel, and when Jordae told him she was pregnant, he immediately instructed her to get an abortion. Jordae shared screenshots of text messages, in which she informed him she didn’t want an abortion. “Honestly I had an abortion with my son around [two] years ago and I regret it every day,” she said, adding, “I said I had an abortion [two] years ago and I regret it.”
But Edwards continued to push, and eventually offered her $100,000 to go through with it, even insisting that she send him pictures and video of her taking the abortion pills. Eventually, she did go through with the abortion, and Edwards allegedly sent her the money — according to a screenshot she shared of a wire transfer from “A.E” for $100,000. After the information became public, a tweet allegedly authored by Edwards (though sounding nothing like him) was posted, stating, “I made comments in the heat of a moment that are not me, and that are not aligned with what I believe and who I want to be as a man”:
Anthony Edwards tweet 2023
Howard says she sees a pattern of behavior in Edwards — “a disturbing pattern of neglect and irresponsibility, particularly in his role as a father,” claiming that he has “fathered multiple children with different women in a short period of time and has been involved in serious scandals.”
Being pressured or coerced into abortion is common, especially when the father is wealthy or a celebrity. Some research has shown that 64% of women who had abortions reported being pressured or coerced into doing so, typically through threats of homelessness, violence, or other reprisals.
