Ross: You get a lawsuit, and you get a lawsuit
Sep 21, 2021, 6:06 AM | Updated: 9:12 am
In this Sept. 1, 2021, file photo, Jillian Dworin participates in a protest against the six-week abortion ban at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)
(Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)
I mentioned yesterday the doctor in San Antonio who admitted in a Washington Post op-ed that he deliberately violated the new Texas abortion law:
“On the morning of September 6th, 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.”
That’s Dr. Alan Braid, who said he had the backing of the Center for Reproductive Rights and was prepared to be sued.
“I have spent the past 50 years treating and helping patients,” Braid said. “I just can’t sit back and watch us return to 1972.”
And now, he is being sued by a disbarred lawyer in Arkansas who admits he’s just after the $10,000 reward promised by the Texas law. He’s also being sued by another man from Illinois, who says he is actually pro-choice. Maybe he’s planning to refund the reward as an act of protest.
Whatever the motivation, the way the Texas law is written, Dr. Braid could be sued hundreds of times, and sued successfully, since he’s basically confessed.
The weirdest thing about this is who has not yet sued him: That being Texas Right to Life, which pushed for this law, but has criticized these first two lawsuits as stunts.
This is apparently not what they expected.
Dr. Braid expected it — and I think I know what he plans to do. He will use these lawsuits as a platform to tell the stories of the women who have come to him for help.
“If we detect cardiac activity, we have to refer them out of state,” Braid said. “One of the women I talked with since the law took effect is 42. She has four kids, three under 12. I advised her that she could go to Oklahoma — that’s a nine-hour drive one way. I explained we could help with funding. She told me she couldn’t go, even if we flew her in a private jet. ‘Who is going to take care of my kids?,’ she asked me. ‘What about my job? I can’t miss work.'”
I’m guessing Dr. Braid has hundreds of stories like this. With enough lawsuits, Texas will get to hear them all.
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