S.A. doctor invites lawsuit over abortion

In op-ed, provider declares he violated state’s strict new law

A San Antonio doctor announced Saturday that he violated Texas’ strict new abortion law, becoming the first person in the state to claim to have helped a patient access the procedure after fetal cardiac activity was detected. The provider, Dr. Alan Braid, said he performed the abortion Sept. 6, less than a week after the new ban went into effect.

“I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit,” Braid, who owns Alamo Women’s Clinic, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.”

With the disclosure, Braid opens himself up to what could be one of the first lawsuits on the substance of the law, which bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected, usually about six weeks into a pregnancy. Under the law, nearly anyone is allowed to sue a provider or other person who defies the guidelines, and those who succeed can collect at least $10,000 in damages. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

Abortion providers and their supporters have been trying for months to challenge the law, which they say is unconstitutional, but have run into trouble because of the law’s unusual civilian enforcement approach. Legal experts have suggested that the only way to truly block the ban may be to violate it and bring up the constitutional challenge once lawsuits to enforce it are brought.

But until Saturday, no provider had said they planned to do so, warning that it was too risky to open up their clinics to what could amount to endless litigation.

Braid did not say whether he acted alone and provided no other details about the procedure. A call to his clinic went unanswered.

Anti-abortion activists received the news with skepticism, saying it could just be a stunt designed to lure them into a legal challenge.

“We are fully aware of this and intend to hold anyone who violates the law accountable,” said John Seago, the policy director for

Texas Right to Life. “But the first step is making sure an actual violation occurred.”

Seago said his group, which helped write the law, called Senate Bill 8, was considering its options, including legal tools to gather more information about the supposed violation.

It was unclear immediately whether anyone else had sued Braid or Alamo. Even if anti-abortion activists decline to bring any action, it is possible that someone supportive of Braid could do so, as a way to strategically challenge the law in court.

The law became the most severe abortion restriction in the country Sept. 1 after a divided U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. But the high court has not ruled on the merits of the law.

The Biden administration has sued to block it, arguing that the guidelines flout nearly 50 years of precedent, including the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. A hearing on that case has been scheduled for Oct. 1.

Abortion providers expect the law to cut off between 85 and 90 percent of abortions in Texas and have said the effects already have been devastating, with hundreds of pregnant patients traveling to clinics in other states and many more being left without options to terminate their pregnancies. Some abortion clinics say they will be forced to close if the law continues to stand.

In affidavits submitted with the Biden administration’s lawsuit, doctors gave the example of a child who was allegedly raped by a relative traveling with her guardian from Galveston to Oklahoma to get an abortion, and another woman who was reportedly selling some of her belongings to pay for the trip to an out-of-state clinic.

Braid is in his 70s and is a longtime abortion provider in Texas and Oklahoma. In his op-ed, he said the new law has created conditions similar to those when he started his obstetrics and gynecology residency in 1972. It was the year before the Supreme Court established a constitutional right to abortion before viability, and the procedure was effectively illegal in the state.

“For me, it is 1972 all over again,” he wrote.

“I fully understood that there could be legal consequences,” Braid added, “but I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested.”