I just saw this. You’re probably aware of the courageous Dr. Alan Braid of Texas, who vowed to continue helping women secure safe and legal abortions as is our Constitutional Right despite the ghastly Texas law that empowers vigilantes, essentially, to sue people involved in helping people get legal abortions. It even offers $10,000 rewards so the busybodies are monetized.
Well, now it’s on. Dr. Braid is being sued.
The details of the civil suit against Alan Braid, a physician in San Antonio, are as unusual as the law itself, which empowers private citizens to enforce the ban on abortion once cardiac activity has been detected — often as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Braid stepped forward last week to say that he provided an abortion to a woman who was in the early stages of pregnancy, but beyond the state’s limit. Despite the risks, Braid said he acted because of his duty as a doctor and “because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.”
“I fully understood that there could be legal consequences — but I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested,” he wrote in a column in The Washington Post.
Interestingly, the suit wasn’t filed by a Texan but by a man in Arkansas who says he isn’t anti-abortion but thinks the law must be tested.
Now, get this. Oscar Stilley is a lawyer who is serving a 15 year Federal sentence for tax fraud, supposedly on home confinement; but he filed in Bexar County TX. How that works I don’t know.
Anyway, Stilley is of the opinion that if the law is “garbage,” we shouldn’t have to wait around too long to find out and meanwhile,
“If the state of Texas decided it’s going to give a $10,000 bounty, why shouldn’t I get that 10,000 bounty?” said Stilley, who is currently serving his 15-year federal sentence on home confinement.
So. Our first lawsuit is filed by a convicted felon from Arkansas who is after the money and who is supposed to be in home confinement.
Much more here. My goodness.
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Monday, Sep 20, 2021 · 11:56:59 PM +00:00 · Colorado Blue
Update: A second lawsuit has been filed, this one by a man in Chicago who asked a state court to find the law invalid. This is per Washington Post.
More from Reuters:
The other plaintiff, Felipe Gomez, a suspended lawyer from Illinois, alleged in his complaint that "the Act is illegal as written and as applied here." Gomez did not immediately return a call for comment.
Meanwhile,
Braid's office in San Antonio referred requests for comment to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has pledged to represent Braid in any lawsuit.
Asked for comment, the Center forwarded a statement from its senior counsel, Marc Hearron, who acknowledged that the law enables anyone to sue people who aid or abet abortions beyond the prescribed limit. "We are starting to see that happen, including by out-of-state claimants," the statement read.
Texas Right to Life, a state anti-abortion group, did not return a call for comment.
www.reuters.com/…
Interestingly the Reuters article put the felonious Arkansas lawyer in a better light. He’s quoted as saying he believes that abortion is a woman’s right so perhaps his quest isn’t entirely about the money.
Link to the Center for Reproductive Rights:
reproductiverights.org