Wendy Davis, a former Texas state senator and abortion activist, asked a federal court Tuesday to block the state heartbeat law in a new lawsuit, arguing that it violates her free speech.
The pro-life law bans abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy, and allows private individuals to sue abortionists and others who “aid and abet” abortions in violation of the law. Pro-life leaders estimate as many as 17,000 unborn babies have been spared from abortions since the law went into effect in September.
Abortion activists have filed several lawsuits to block the law, but none have succeeded yet.
Davis’s new lawsuit argues that the pro-life law has been a “nightmare” because it violates her free speech and due process rights, the Texas Tribune reports. Davis works with the Lilith Fund, a pro-abortion group in Austin that is named after a demon.
“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,” Davis said in a statement. “More than that, we are asking the courts to stop the nightmare S.B.8 has created for Texans if they need abortion services.”
Her lawsuit names pro-life Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain and three other private citizens who have threatened to sue abortion funds for giving money to help Texas women abort their unborn babies in violation of the law, according to the Associated Press. Under the heartbeat law, private citizens may sue individuals or groups that pay to abort an unborn baby with a detectable heartbeat.
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Recently, Cain sent letters to the Lilith Fund and other Texas abortion groups telling them to “immediately stop paying for abortions performed in Texas or face criminal prosecution” under both the heartbeat law and an older state law that describes people who help women get abortions as accomplices, the Tribune reports.
“It appears that you are unaware that [the statute] continues to exist as the law of Texas,” Cain wrote in the letter. “And you likewise appear unaware that your organization is committing criminal acts that are exposing everyone involved in your organization—including your employees, volunteers, and donors—to criminal prosecution and imprisonment.”
In the lawsuit, Davis said the law and Cain’s warnings have “had a chilling effect” on Texas abortion funds. She argued that the law violates free speech because it stops her from associating with “like-minded people to express her views and achieve her advocacy goals,” according to the report.
Others involved in the pro-abortion lawsuit include Marva Sadler and Sean Mehl, who work for the Texas-based abortion chain Whole Woman’s Health, and the Stigma Relief Fund, the report states.
“his is the latest in a series of desperate legal stunts brought by a flailing abortion industry to resume abortions after the preborn child’s heartbeat is detectable,” says Kimberlyn Schwartz of Texas Right to Life.
She added:
So far, the Texas Heartbeat Act has survived 21 other lawsuits attempting to bring down the law, 14 of which are against Texas Right to Life. Elective abortions in Texas have dropped by over 50%, and the abortion industry is growing desperate. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected all but one of their arguments in December. The last remaining argument left by the U.S. Supreme Court was later denied by the Texas Supreme Court.
This 22nd lawsuit comes after Representative Cain sent cease-and-desist letters to abortion funds in Texas urging them to immediately stop aiding and abetting abortions in violation of pre-Roe v. Wade Texas law. Notably, Cain did not allege a violation of the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Davis and the Stigma Relief Fund also sued three private citizens. The first and second private defendants sought to depose the abortion funds to determine the extent to which they have violated the Texas Heartbeat Act. However, they did not indicate they planned to bring civil lawsuits against abortion funds, but rather only wanted to gather information. Therefore, the lawsuit against them does not have merit.
The last private defendant has “sworn under penalty of perjury that she intends to sue abortion funds that pay for abortions in violation of [the Texas Heartbeat Act].” This in and of itself does not merit judicial intervention. Neither Roe v. Wade nor any other court ruling has asserted that abortion funds have a constitutional right to aid and abet abortions.
This exposes the ridiculous nature of the new lawsuit. Davis has not been threatened with civil lawsuits, so her inclusion as a plaintiff in this case makes little sense. However, Davis has now admitted to a court that she has paid for abortions in violation of Texas law, a crime punishable by two to five years in prison. Davis, like anyone who donates to an abortion fund, could now be prosecuted under Article 4512.2, Revised Civil Statutes, a valid Texas law that has never been repealed.
Nearly a decade ago, Davis came into the national spotlight because of her abortion advocacy. In 2013, pro-abortion news outlets and activist groups tried to make the Democrat politician into a star after she filibustered a pro-life bill in the Texas Senate while wearing pink tennis shoes.
Despite the positive media attention, Davis’s radical pro-abortion views never received much public support. Since then, she repeatedly has lost elections including for governor and U.S. Congress.
For more than seven months, the heartbeat law has banned most abortions in Texas, saving thousands of unborn babies’ lives. Pro-abortion groups are challenging the law in multiple ways, and, although there are no final rulings yet, courts repeatedly have rejected abortion activists’ requests to temporarily block the law.
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court left only part of the abortion groups’ lawsuit in place and sent the case back to the Fifth Circuit for consideration. It also threw out a second lawsuit by President Joe Biden‘s administration.
Meanwhile, Texas also has been expanding support services for pregnant and parenting families. Along with passing the heartbeat law in 2021, state lawmakers also increased support for programs that serve pregnant and parenting mothers and babies, ensuring that they have resources to choose life for their babies.
The heartbeat law has the potential to save tens of thousands of unborn babies from abortion every year. In 2020, about 54,000 unborn babies were aborted in Texas, and about 85 percent happened after six weeks of pregnancy, according to state health statistics.
