Texas court rejects lawsuit against San Antonio doctor who violated the state’s abortion ban

A state judge has pitched out a lawsuit against a San Antonio-based doctor who intentionally violated a Texas law calling for a near-complete ban on abortions, the Texas Tribune reports.

That law, passed before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, allows anyone sue a person who helps another obtain an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. That’s a time before many women even become aware they’re pregnant, according to medical professionals.

In the first such ruling on the law’s legality, State District Judge Aaron Haas of San Antonio ruled Thursday that people with no direct connection to the abortion and who can’t show direct harm have no have standing sue.

Alamo City physician Dr. Alan Braid violated Texas’ Senate Bill 8 in a bid to force a legal challenge to the controversial measure. Of the three suits filed against him, only that of a Chicago resident Felipe Gomez moved forward.

That was the suit Haas threw out, according to the Tribune.

While the new ruling sets a significant precedent, it doesn’t mean the law has been overturned, Center for Reproductive Rights Senior Counsel Marc Hearron told the news site.

In the wake of Texas’ abortion ban, Braid shuttered his clinic in San Antonio, although he still provides services in two other states.

“It is heartbreaking that Texans still can’t get essential health care in their home state and that providers are left afraid to do their jobs,” Braid said in a statement provided to the Tribune. “Though we were forced to close our Texas clinic, I will continue serving patients across the region with the care they deserve at new clinics in Illinois and New Mexico.”

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This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 12, 2022.