Dr Alan Braid, an OBGYN based in San Antonio, broke the law on purpose. In an essay published in the Washington Post last Saturday, the doctor announced that he performed an abortion on a woman who was past six weeks of gestation, the limit imposed by Texas’s new abortion ban, SB8. The doctor wrote that he felt morally obliged to perform the procedure, his worldview shaped by his years in obstetric practice having conversations with patients who revealed that they were terminating their pregnancies because they couldn’t afford more kids, because they had been raped, because they were with abusive partners, or because they wanted to pursue other dreams.
He wrote, too, of beginning his practice in 1972, the year before Roe v Wade, the last time an outright ban on abortion was in effect in his state. “At the hospital that year, I saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions,” Dr Braid wrote. “One I will never forget. When she came into the ER, her vaginal cavity was packed with rags. She died a few days later from massive organ failure, caused by a septic infection.” Dr Braid reasoned that to avoid such needless deaths, he had a “duty of care” to the woman whose newly illegal abortion he performed.
He was promptly sued. Two complaints – both from men living out of state – were filed against Dr Braid on Monday morning. One, a rambling, weird document, comes from a convicted felon and disbarred former attorney named Oscar Stilley, who is serving a prison term on house arrest in Arkansas. That complaint, which Stilley seems to have written himself, makes multiple references to Dr Braid’s conduct regarding “bastards” and his supposed belief in a god referred to by the Hebrew name “Elohim.” Stilley, who has said he does not personally oppose abortion, feels strongly that “if there’s money to be had, it’s going to go in Oscar’s pocket.”
The second lawsuit is from a man named Felipe Gomez of Illinois, another disbarred lawyer, who labels himself “pro-choice plaintiff”, and whose complaint asks only that SB8 be overturned. These test cases, strange and off-putting as they are, now represent the best chance for SB8 to be vacated, and for abortion rights to be returned to Texans – at least for now.
I don't know a lot about the law in general, but can someone from out-of-state have standing to sue someone they've never interacted with under a state law for something that didn't involve them?
I don't know a lot about the law in general, but can someone from out-of-state have standing to sue someone they've never interacted with under a state law for something that didn't involve them?
IIRC, the texas law specifically allows out of state suits, as well as granting anyone, whether they have interacted with the person they are suing or not, standing and statutory damages for the suit.
IIRC, the texas law specifically allows out of state suits, as well as granting anyone, whether they have interacted with the person they are suing or not, standing and statutory damages for the suit.
I don't know a lot about the law in general, but can someone from out-of-state have standing to sue someone they've never interacted with under a state law for something that didn't involve them?
IIRC, the texas law specifically allows out of state suits, as well as granting anyone, whether they have interacted with the person they are suing or not, standing and statutory damages for the suit.