A San Antonio doctor says he performed an illegal abortion in protest of Texas ’ new law that bans the procedure after the sixth week of...
A San Antonio doctor says he performed an illegal abortion in protest of Texas’ new law that bans the procedure after the sixth week of pregnancy because he had a ‘duty of care’ to his patient.
Alan Braid, an OB/GYN physician, said he did the procedure while treating a woman at his clinic on the morning of September 6 - five days after the restrictive new law known as SB8 went into effect.
The woman was in her first trimester when the fetus was aborted, Braid wrote in The Washington Post, but the procedure was done beyond the six-week limit that is stated by law.
The law relies on private citizens for enforcement, rewarding them with at least $10,000 plus legal fees for bringing a successful civil lawsuit against anyone who provides an abortion in violation of the act or who 'aids and abets' such an abortion.
These bounty-hunting plaintiffs face no penalties for an unsuccessful suit. But for abortion-provider defendants, it's a very different scheme.
A woman carries a sign calling for access to abortion at a rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on September 11, 2021
If they win, they get no compensation.
If they lose, even if it's on just a single, minor claim, they or their lawyers are on the hook for their opponents' attorneys' fees and costs.
The law does not allow for exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
Legal experts say that the fee-shifting mechanism alone will likely dissuade attorneys from singing on to represent abortion-providing defendants in such lawsuits.
As of Sunday morning, it is unclear if any anti-abortion group or individual in Texas has filed a lawsuit against Braid.
In the Post opinion piece, Braid wrote that he is being represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights. His clinics are also plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping SB8.
Texas lawmakers recently passed several pieces of conservative legislation, including SB8, which prohibits abortions in Texas after a fetal heartbeat is detected on an ultrasound, usually between the fifth and sixth weeks of pregnancy
Braid wrote that he was willing to risk legal exposure. He said that the new Texas law reminded him of when abortion was still illegal in this country before the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
'For me, it is 1972 all over again,' Braid wrote in the Post, referencing the year in which he started his obstetrics and gynecology residency in San Antonio.
He wrote that he remembered that year as one in which abortion was 'effectively illegal in Texas' and that he witnessed three teenagers die from performing illegal abortions.
'At the hospital that year, I saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions,' he 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.'
Braid wrote that the similarities between that era and the new 'fetal heartbeat' law that was allowed to go into effect by the Supreme Court earlier this month motivated him to act in defiance of the statute.
'And that is why, on the morning of September 6, I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit,' he wrote.
'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.'
Braid added: '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.'
The law relies on private citizens for enforcement, rewarding them with at least $10,000 plus legal fees for bringing a successful civil lawsuit against anyone who provides an abortion in violation of the act or who 'aids and abets' such an abortion. The image above shows an abortion rights rally in Austin, Texas on September 11
'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,' Braid wrote.
'I have daughters, granddaughters and nieces. I believe abortion is an essential part of health care.
'I have spent the past 50 years treating and helping patients.
'I can't just sit back and watch us return to 1972.'
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