A lawsuit filed by a former lawyer regarding a Texas abortion provider intentionally violating state abortion law, was thrown out in court for lack of standing Thursday.
Former lawyer Felipe Gomez filed the civil action lawsuit against Dr. Alan Braid after Braid intentionally performed an illegal abortion to provoke a lawsuit that would bring about questions regarding Texas’ abortion law S B. 8. Gomez, who describes himself as pro-choice, filed the lawsuit not to punish Braid but in the hopes that a judge would call the Texas law “unconstitutional,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
Bexar County District Judge Aaron Haas dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing due to the suit being filed by someone with no affiliation with the Texas law or the situation, according to The Texas Tribune. While the dismissal sets a precedent moving forward, the judge’s ruling does not overturn state law.
Braid stated in an op-ed for the Washington Post that when the law passed in Sept. 2021 he decided to purposely violate the law and provided an abortion for a woman in her third trimester. (RELATED: ‘Women Deserve Better’: Abortion Activists’ Claims About Miscarriage Put Women In Danger, Experts Say)
“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 wrote.
Abortion rights demonstrators march outside of the Harris County Courthouse during the Women’s Wave march in Houston, Texas, on October 8, 2022. (Photo by Mark Felix / AFP) (Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)
Following Braid’s op-ed, several lawsuits were filed, but only Gomez’s made it through the courts. Gomez told the Chicago Tribune that he was “pro-choice” and that he wanted to challenge the new law.
“I don’t have a difference with the defendant, per se. The difference is with the writer of the law,” Gomez explained.
Gomez was suspended in September by the Illinois Supreme Court for “aggressive and abusive behavior” in communication with lawyers from another firm, according to ABA Journal. Braid no longer performs abortions due to Texas’ new law banning all abortions in the state following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, according to The Texas Tribune.
Braid and Gomez could not be reached for comment.
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