LACK OF PROOF

Judge Tosses Texas’ First Abortion ‘Bounty Hunter’ Case

The law, which went into effect in 2021, allows anyone who discovers an abortion within the state to sue for upwards of $10,000.

The first test of Texas’ controversial anti-abortion law Senate Bill 8 ended with a fizzle on Thursday, when a judge dismissed the case against a San Antonio abortion provider citing a lack of proof of injury, as required by the state constitution. The law effectively allows private citizens to sue anyone found to have had an abortion after 2021 within the state for damages north of $10,000. But the case brought forward by Chicagoan Felipe Gomez against Dr. Alan Braid, who admitted via a Washington Post op-ed that he had broken the most extreme abortion ban in the country, decided that more was needed to convict even an admittedly guilty party. “It doesn’t necessarily stop other people from filing SB 8 lawsuits,” said Marc Hearron, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to the Houston Chronicle. “But what we expect is other courts, following this judge’s lead, would say if you weren’t injured, if you’re just a stranger trying to enforce SB 8, courts are going to reject your claims because you don’t have standing.”