Texas doctor says he violated nation's most restrictive abortion law to challenge it

[pnwmom]

Source: WA POST

A Texas doctor stepped forward Saturday to say he had performed an abortion that is illegal under the state's restrictive new law to force a test of its legality.

"I understand that by providing an abortion beyond the new legal limit, I am taking a personal risk, but it's something I believe in strongly," Alan Braid, a San Antonio OB/GYN, said in an op-ed in The Washington Post. "I have daughters, granddaughters and nieces. I believe abortion is an essential part of health care. ... I can't just sit back and watch us return to 1972.

Braid said he performed a first-trimester abortion on Sept. 6, just a few days after the law known as Senate Bill 8 went into effect in Texas, making nearly all abortions illegal after a woman is about six weeks pregnant -- with no exceptions for incest or rape. The doctor said he acted because he had "a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients."

The op-ed is the latest development in the storm over Texas's abortion law, the most restrictive in the nation. The law took effect Sept. 1 after a conservative Supreme Court majority declined to block it, saying the abortion rights advocates who challenged it could not show they were suing the right people. The Justice Department sued Texas just over a week ago to try to block the ban and has also made an emergency request to a federal judge in Austin to immediately block its enforcement. The judge set an Oct. 1 hearing date.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/texas-abortion-doctor-tests-restrictive-law/2021/09/18/f5b48862-18a0-11ec-9589-31ac3173c2e5_story.html

---

HERE IS LINK TO THE OP-ED:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/18/texas-abortion-provider-alan-braid/

I was a practicing OB/GYN in Texas, conducting Pap smears, pelvic exams and pregnancy check-ups; delivering more than 10,000 babies; and providing abortion care at clinics I opened in Houston and San Antonio, and another in Oklahoma.

Then, this month, everything changed. A new Texas law, known as S.B. 8, virtually banned any abortion beyond about the sixth week of pregnancy. It shut down about 80 percent of the abortion services we provide. Anyone who suspects I have violated the new law can sue me for at least $10,000. They could also sue anybody who helps a person obtain an abortion past the new limit, including, apparently, the driver who brings a patient to my clinic.

For me, it is 1972 all over again.

And that is why, on the morning of Sept. 6, I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state's new limit. I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.

A SUMMARY PIECE AT RAW STORY:

https://www.rawstory.com/doctor-defies-texas-abortion-law/

JEZEBEL'S PIECE, NO PAYWALL:

https://jezebel.com/texas-doctor-provides-abortion-in-violation-of-new-stat-1847702947

[ret5hd]

1. Courage personified.

[Takket]

2. what a brave man. I hope his attempts to undo this wrong don't end up with him in prison

[vsrazdem]

10. This is not a criminal offense. It is a civil lawsuit. He will not go to prison.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. or worse yet

when Texas institutes non jury trials and public firing squads.........

[Jon King]

21. No, it was always a sham law, no one will dare sue him.

This was always a scare tactic. The Repugs will never file a case. The first case would result in the law being absolutely destroyed at every level of court. Medical privacy laws, mental anguish cross suits.....no private citizen will ever actually try to enforce this law. They would get slaughtered legally and expose themselves to cross suits all the way up to the DOJ.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Can you explain "expose themselves to cross suits", please?

Because I've never heard anyone yet say there would be any repercussions for anyone suing under this unjust law. What "cross suit" are you saying could happen? "Mental anguish" turns up in personal injury cases, but this isn't one of those.

[Leghorn21]

3. GOOD MAN

Thank you SO MUCH, Dr. Braid

RESPECT

[iluvtennis]

8. +1. n/t

[Paladin]

4. I'd love to see other Texas OB/GYN's do the same thing.

Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick would be floored by that kind of principled, courageous action.

[sheshe2]

5. Brave man.

thank you Dr. Braid.

[AZLD4Candidate]

6. Good man, modern day John Scopes. I offered my classroom to challenge Arizona's CRT law

or as I call it the Teacher Gag Rule.

[BoycottTimHortons]

7. I respect his bravery

It says so much about his character, to risk arrest and prosecution in order to do what’s right.

It is so scary that reproductive rights are still under assault in 2021. Conservatives everywhere are being emboldened by what republicans in Texas are doing. Please, please guys, do what you can to put a stop to their reign of terror.

[NickB79]

9. I hope he owns some good body armor and a gun

Because there's a target on his back now

[SergeStorms]

13. Yes, now the REAL vigilantes start coming out.

The "religious" vigilantes will want to kill him now, because of their respect for life.

[AllaN01Bear]

11. this dr. is my hero right now and good for him.

/revision/latest?cb=20090729102006

[niyad]

12. Thank you, Dr. Braid.

[JohnnyRingo]

14. Maybe he can collect the $10k bounty

He can put it toward legal fees.

Seriously, I bet both the ACLU and PP chip in on this one.

[Moebym]

15. K&R n/t

[SunSeeker]

16. K & R

[Solly Mack]

17. K&R

[Jon King]

19. He called their bluff, I have always said no one will ever bring a case.

From the day this law passed I said it is a sham, they will never bring an actual case. The first case brought would result in it being exposed as unenforceable. Health records and HIPPA, civil rights violations, cross suits for mental anguish, etc.

It was always nothing but a scare tactic.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. A big, fat K&R!

[Jon King]

22. Mark my words, no 'private citizen' will ever file a case.

Even if the Repugs back the person financially, no one will dare risk it. They would be going against the DOJ eventually with all the resources of the federal government. The DOJ has made it clear that collecting a bounty would be prosecuted under various federal statutes.

I bet if every provider starts ignoring the law absolutely nothing will happen to them legally. Its a scare tactic with no actual legal teeth.

[LeftInTX]

29. This just became known yesterday

Anti-abortion activists received the news with skepticism, saying it could just be a stunt designed to lure them into a legal challenge.

“We are fully aware of this and intend to hold anyone who violates the law accountable,” said John Seago, the policy director for Texas Right to Life. “But the first step is making sure an actual violation occurred.”

Seago said his group, which helped write the law, called Senate Bill 8, was considering its options, including legal tools to gather more information about the supposed violation.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/legislature/article/San-Antonio-doctor-says-he-violated-Texas-6-week-16470028.php?fbclid=IwAR3NPOIUbOu6AQ7RsaoC5Mq8LbjEHVdw1lzf31C1yMHzBflfFblbkzfvgfY

[Bucky]

23. By stepping forward on his own, does he get the $10,000 bounty on himself?

He might need help with the lawyer fees.

[pnwmom]

24. The Center for Reproductive Rights is representing him. n/t

[riversedge]

26. ...Braid is expected to face a barrage of lawsuits, The Post reported. Texas Right to Life legislati

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2021/09/18/texas-doctor-says-he-performed-an-abortion-thats-illegal-under-sb-8-in-order-to-test-laws-legality/



.....................Braid is expected to face a barrage of lawsuits, The Post reported. Texas Right to Life legislative director John Seago said the group “is exploring all of our options to hold anyone accountable who breaks the [Texas] law,” the newspaper reported.

“This was always something that we expected — that someone would essentially try to bait a lawsuit,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “So we’re just moving into the next phase of Senate Bill 8 right now.”

But Kristin Ford, acting vice president of communications for the abortion rights advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America, praised the doctor for coming forward in a “bold and brave way,” The Post reported.

“Roe v. Wade has been rendered meaningless in the second-biggest state in the country, and we can’t continue in that limbo,” she was quoted as saying...............................

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. He reminds me of our own Doctor Henry Morgentaler

In Canada. He defied the anti-abortion laws in order to confront the legality of it. Arguing it was a medical procedure that should be covered by our public medicare system. His defiance was a leading catalyst in the 1988 court decision that struck down previous laws and made it legal across Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgentaler

[electric_blue68]

28. Thank You Dr and Good Luck.