Man sues Texas doctor who defied abortion ban to test new law – and collect US$10,000 bounty
- Disbarred lawyer Oscar Stilley launched his lawsuit after Alan Braid became the first doctor to publicly share that he had violated the ban
- The controversial Texas law allows successful plaintiffs to collect at least US$10,000 for every illegal abortion they expose
A disbarred lawyer from Arkansas has sued a Texas doctor under the state’s new law prohibiting most abortions, saying he wants to test the constitutionality of the sweeping ban – and collect US$10,000 allowed under the law.
Dr Alan Braid, a long-time physician in obstetrics and gynaecology from San Antonio, wrote Sunday in an opinion piece in The Washington Post that he had performed an abortion outside the legal window permitted in the law, which prohibits the procedure before about six weeks of pregnancy.
Braid became the first doctor to publicly share that he had violated the ban, which took effect September 1, writing in the Post that he knew his actions could draw a civil lawsuit under the law, which permits any individual to sue abortion providers or others seen as aiding and abetting an abortion that violates the ban.
On Monday, Oscar Stilley, a former lawyer convicted of tax fraud in 2010, filed such a lawsuit in Bexar County District Court.
“I woke up this morning … and I saw a story about this doctor, Dr Braid,” Stilley told the Austin American-Statesman. “He’s obviously a man of principle and courage and it just made me mad to see the trick bag they put him in and I just decided: I’m going to file a lawsuit. We’re going to get an answer, I want to see what the law is.”
The law allows successful plaintiffs to collect at least US$10,000 for every illegal abortion that is exposed and does not require the individual to have any connection to the patient or defendant.