Texas doctor defies new state law and performs abortion past six weeks of pregnancy
A doctor in Texas performed an abortion after the first six weeks of a woman's pregnancy, breaking a new Texas law that went into effect this month.
The law, called S.B. 8, allows private citizens to sue any individual who assists a woman in an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, even in cases of rape and incest. This includes partners who support the abortion process, friends who post tips online on where to get abortions and Uber drivers who take women to abortion clinics. It also includes the doctors who perform the abortion itself.
In an op-ed in The Washington Post, Dr. Alan Braid of San Antonio said he performed the abortion on Sep. 6, five days after the law went into effect, and could now be sued by a private citizen for over $10,000.
"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," Braid said.
Read more: Talking about abortion online in Texas? What you say on Facebook or Twitter could hurt you
Braid describes his professional experience beginning with his residency in 1972, when abortion was illegal in all cases except to save the pregnant woman's life. He recalls teenagers who stepped into his emergency room, bleeding from an illegal and unsafe abortion, who later died.
After Roe v. Wade, a Supreme Court case that legalized abortion across the country in 1973, Braid spent over 40 years performing abortions in clinics throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
With the passage of S.B. 8, Braid said, "For me, it is 1972 all over again."
The Justice Department under President Biden is suing Texas for the ban with the hopes that the case will land on the Supreme Court docket once again. Earlier in September, the Supreme Court ruled against abortion rights activists, rejecting their attempt to halt the Texas law from going into effect.
Michelle Shen is a Money & Tech Digital Reporter for USATODAY. You can reach her @michelle_shen10 on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas doctor performs abortion, despite state law banning abortions
