'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
A San Antonio doctor who wrote a Washington Post op-ed claiming that he had violated Texas' six-week abortion ban now faces at least two lawsuits brought against him under the ban, both brought by plaintiffs who say they oppose the new law.
One lawsuit was filed Monday by Oscar Stilley, a former tax attorney in Arkansas who is serving a home confinement sentence for a federal conviction on tax crimes.
He filed the lawsuit against the physician, Dr. Alan Braid, in Bexar County.
In a phone interview with CNN, Stilley said he is an opponent of the law that bars most abortions in the state, but wants to clear the way for a judge to rule on its constitutionality.
"I am a supporter of the Constitution, and I am opposed to the law," Stilley said.
A second lawsuit has been filed against Braid by Felipe N. Gomez, an Illinois resident who describes himself as a "Pro Choice Plaintiff" in the suit.
The lawsuits open up a new front in the legal war around the six-week abortion ban, which went into effect on September 1.
Abortion rights advocates have so far failed to get a federal court to block the law, as the ban's supporters designed it with the goal of evading judicial review. Rather than task government officials with enforcing the ban, via criminal or regulatory punishments, the Texas state legislature essentially deputized private citizens with the ability to bring private civil litigation in state courts against abortion providers or anyone else who facilitates an abortion that violates the law.
"S.B. 8 says that 'any person' can sue over a violation, and we are starting to see that happen, including by out-of-state claimants," Marc Hearron, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Braid in a federal lawsuit challenging the abortion ban, said Monday in a statement.
Braid did not immediately respond to CNN's inquiries.
The anti-abortion activists who championed the new ban have touted the chilling effect it immediately had, as many abortion providers in the state have publicly said that they were complying with the law for now. Under the Texas law, clinics that are found, in private state court enforcement actions, to be in violation of the ban are on the hook for at least $10,000 in damages.
But John Seago, who heads Texas Right to Life, emphasized that neither case was filed "from the Pro-Life movement."
"Both cases are self-serving legal stunts, abusing the cause of action created in the Texas Heartbeat Act for their own purposes," Seago said in a statement.
"The question isn't whether Dr. Braid is going to win this lawsuit; he almost certainly will," noted Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
"It's how future SB8 lawsuits can be blocked," Vladeck said. "And nothing that happens in this case can prevent future lawsuits from being brought -- that's the whole point of transferring enforcement authority from a single state to a limitless class of potential private plaintiffs."
These two lawsuits may face procedural hurdles because they have been filed by individuals who do not support the law. "The judge will have to sort that out," Vladeck said.
Stilley's lawsuit was first reported by The Washington Post.
Stilley told CNN he was suing Braid because wanted a "judge to make a ruling on" the law.
"I think the doctor has guts and he has principle and I decided that I would be the one to get some clarity on this law," Stilley said.
Stilley, who was charged with several federal tax crimes in 2009 and was later convicted, said he was serving as his own lawyer in the case.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.