SAN ANTONIO — Two lawsuits have been filed against San Antonio doctor Dr. Alan Braid after he admitted to performing an abortion in defiance of Senate Bill 8 in an op-ed for the Washington Post.
Oscar Stilley of Arkansas and Felipe Gomez of Chicago submitted complaints that were filed on Monday.
Stilley is a disbarred former attorney, currently on home confinement after he was convicted of tax fraud in 2010. He said he’s neither pro-choice nor pro-life, but pro-liberty. He’s suing for $100,000, calling S.B. 8 invalid.
"The probability that I'm going to get ten thousand dollars or one hundred thousand dollars out of this, not very good. But if somebody's going to get ten thousand, why shouldn’t it be me?," Stilley said.
Felipe Gomez said he is a retired attorney. Paperwork shows he is a pro-choice plaintiff, suing a pro-choice defendant.
"I agree with them about not allowing, you know, not being able to force me to get a shot or a mask, but then it's inconsistent for them to state that a woman should do with her body," Gomez said.
Gomez is asking the court to declare S.B. 8 unconstitutional. He said he didn’t know about the $10,000 settlement.
"It was merely to get the court literally to interpret the law as invalid," Gomez said.
Gomez said he is willing to drop the lawsuit if the bill is repealed.
S.B. 8 prohibits abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks. The act is enforced through lawsuits that can be brought by private citizens. They can sue anyone for aiding or abetting someone seeking an abortion.
Texas Right to Life put out a statement response to both lawsuits:
Today, two disbarred attorneys filed lawsuits against Alan Braid, an abortionist in San Antonio who wrote an op-ed titled, "I violated Texas's abortion ban. Here's why."
The first plaintiff, Felipe Gomez, is a disbarred pro-abortion attorney attacking an abortionist with the goal of declaring the law to be unconstitutional. The second plaintiff, Oscar Stilley, is currently under home confinement and used his lawsuit to air grievances about his felony conviction.
Neither of these lawsuits are valid attempts to save innocent human lives. Both cases are self-serving legal stunts, abusing the cause of action created in the Texas Heartbeat Act for their own purposes.
We believe Braid published his op-ed intending to attract imprudent lawsuits, but none came from the Pro-Life movement.
Texas Right to Life is dubious that Braid's op-ed is purely a legal and publicity ploy. The abortion industry's 16 previous efforts failed to stop this law from saving lives so far, and this may be another attempt. However, there is a four-year statute of limitations for any violations, and Texas Right to Life is dedicated to ensuring that the Texas Heartbeat Act is fully enforced.
"If they didn't like it, they should have thought about that when they were drafting," Stilley said.
Dr. Alan Braid declined to KENS 5's request for an interview.