Doctor who performed abortion in defiance of new Texas law is being sued
The law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks and before some women even know they are pregnant.
A US doctor who said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new Texas law is being sued by two people seeking to test the legality of the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.
Former lawyers in Arkansas and Illinois have filed lawsuits against Dr Alan Braid, who in a weekend Washington Post opinion column, became the first Texas abortion provider to publicly reveal he violated the law that took effect on 1 September.
The law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks and before some women even know they are pregnant.
Prosecutors cannot take criminal action against Dr Braid, because the law explicitly forbids that.
The only way the ban can be enforced is through lawsuits brought by private citizens, who are entitled to claim at least $10,000 (£7,300) in damages if successful.
Oscar Stilley, who described himself as a former lawyer who lost his law license after being convicted of tax fraud in 2010, said he is not opposed to abortion but sued to force a court review of Texas’s anti-abortion law.
https://news.sky.com/story/doctor-who-performed-abortion-in-defiance-of-new-texas-law-is-being-sued-12413228