Texas Groups File Class Action Lawsuit Aiming to Nullify State’s Anti-Abortion Laws

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A group of non-profit abortion funds and practical support networks has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and each of the state’s county and district attorneys in search of an injunction to declare Texas’s anti-abortion laws null and void. 

The 56-page complaint argues that Texas’s pre-Roe v. Wade statutes and more recent “Trigger Law,” which allows for criminal and civil penalties against doctors and medical providers who perform abortions, are a violation of the plaintiffs’ rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and/or their right to travel between states. 

The plaintiffs contend that although they have halted their activities related to helping pregnant Texans obtain abortions, including providing informational materials and financial and logistical support, “Texas state actors” have asserted that they have nevertheless engaged in criminal activity, both before and after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, the complaint says. 

“Specifically, Texas Legislators have threatened that abortion funds and their donors will be prosecuted for murder,” the filing states. “They have asserted retroactive application of the Pre-Roe statutes against providers (not parties to this action) and abortion funds.” 

The plaintiffs say that leading up to and immediately following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022 upending of the constitutional right to an abortion, they and other reproductive rights groups were threatened by those who “oppose a pregnant person’s right to self-determination and reproductive healthcare.” These threats, the plaintiffs say, have had the effect of deterring professionals from providing counseling, financial and logistical aid and even information to pregnant women in Texas who may need out-of-state abortion access. 

Further, the suit alleges that a series of testimony-seeking petitions filed in state courts and a July 7 letter from the “Texas Freedom Caucus,” a group of legislators, represent a “partnership and/or coordinated effort between private and state actors” to intimidate the plaintiffs and others based on their willingness to help clients, employees and anyone else access legal healthcare outside of Texas. 

The plaintiffs stress in the complaint that in response to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, and out of an abundance of caution due to the previous threats, they have paused all activities related to assisting access to abortion care, including outside of Texas. The non-profit groups add that they have never provided direct abortion services or paid or reimbursed any provider or other individual or entity for the provisions of abortion services.  

The plaintiffs share, however, that they wish to resume: 

• Funding legal, out-of-state abortions for pregnant Texans, including by directly paying and/or reimbursing out-of-state licensed providers of abortion services and providing financial aid to pregnant Texans for such;
• Providing informational materials and planning assistance, including logistics, to pregnant Texans for obtaining legal, out-of-state abortions; and
• Transporting pregnant Texans outside state lines to obtain safe, legal abortions. 

The plaintiffs allege they have suffered harm as a result of having to divert organizational resources to counteract threats of criminal liability against staff, volunteers and donors, who have been chilled from making financial donations because of potential prosecution and civil penalties. Further, if the state’s pre-Roe v. Wade laws and Trigger Law are “construed as expansively as asserted by Texas state actors,” including Attorney General Paxton, the lawsuit says, both sets of statutes violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs and their staff, volunteers and donors. 

Ultimately, the plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that Texas’s pre-Roe v. Wade statutes and Trigger Ban cannot be enforced by any of the defendants in a manner that violates the groups’ right to freely travel, associate, speak with and support members of their communities through financial assistance, the complaint states. 

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