AUSTIN, Texas — Former state Sen. Wendy Davis is challenging the Texas law that bans abortions after about six weeks effectively banning most abortions in the state. The legal challenge was filed in a federal district court alongside leaders with the Stigma Relief Fund, an abortion fund that provides financial and practical support to Texans seeking abortion services.
In a statement released Tuesday, Davis said the law not only complicated reproductive care but also “encouraged vigilante harassment of anyone who provides assistance to abortion patients.”
State Rep. Briscoe Cain was also named as a defendant in the suit after sending cease and desist letters threatening abortion funds in Texas.
“We are asking the courts today to stop the unconstitutional harassment of abortion funds by confirming S.B.8 cannot be used to silence donors with bogus threats,” said Davis.
Since the law went into effect last fall, many Texans seeking abortion care have been forced to travel out of state. That has reportedly strained abortion clinics in neighboring states like Oklahoma which has its own abortion ban slated to take effect this summer.
“S.B. 8 has devastated access to abortion care in Texas, and the ripple effects of its continued enforcement are felt deeply by patients in Texas and in states across the country,” said Marva Sadler, Board Chair for the Stigma Relief Fund and Senior Director of Clinical Services for Whole Woman’s Health.
The lawsuit is one of several federal legal challenges against S.B. 8 including Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, and the federal government challenged the law in United States v. Texas.
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