Texas court dismisses lawsuit against doctor who defied abortion ban
The specific lawsuit that was dismissed has yet to be reported, but as the Texas Grandstand reported in September 2021, when the lawsuits were first filed, the two parties suing Dr. Braid looked like true patriots. Both parties were “disbarred attorneys”: Illinois resident Felipe N. Gomez and Arkansan Oscar Stilley.
In the copy of the complaint he released, Stilley described himself as a “discredited and disgraced former Arkansas attorney.” Stilley, who was convicted of tax evasion in 2010, is suing Braid for $100,000.
Stilley said in an interview that he was not personally opposed to abortion, nor did he believe the law was necessarily good. However, he said he wanted the $10,000 and would seek advice from anti-abortion organizations on how best to argue his case. If the law is overturned, it will count as a victory in determining whether the lawsuit is justified or not.
The abortion ban was implemented with a level of cynicism and cowardice only accessible to the most conservative political thinkers in Texas. The law, as written, “prohibits officials from enforcing the law and has the power for anyone, including those outside the state, to prosecute those who violate it. The hope was to blame Texans and not the law itself for a hugely unpopular attack on more than half of its citizens’ freedoms.
Dr. Braid had to close his clinic in San Antonio, Texas, which served the health care needs of many people due to new Texas laws that passed over the past two years. “It’s heartbreaking that Texans still can’t get essential health care in their home state and that providers are afraid to do their jobs. Although we were forced to close our clinic in Texas, I will continue to serve patients across the region with the care they deserve at new clinics in Illinois and New Mexico.
The ban on abortion for six weeks and the attached law of vigilance giving any thug the right to sue and collecting a bounty on anyone who violates this Salem-Witch-Trial-era style law was one of many big theocracy shifts Republicans made before they were defeated midterm.
Like Dr. Baird wrote:
“I have daughters, granddaughters and nieces. I believe abortion is an essential part of health care. I have spent the last 50 years caring for and helping patients. I can’t just sit and watch us go back to 1972.”
Hear hear.
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