Texas abortion law could make it harder to sue over future restrictions
AUSTIN — The state’s new six-week abortion ban doesn’t just cut off the procedure in the here and now. It could make it harder to challenge any state abortion restriction in the long term.
Under a little-noticed provision of the Texas law, the nation’s most stringent anti-abortion measure, lawyers who take on cases to block Texas abortion regulations are now on the hook to pay the state’s attorney fees if they lose. So are their firms.
The new financial risk, critics said, could scare off lawyers at a time when the future of abortion rights is uncertain.
“The provision is unprecedented and highly problematic,” said Stephanie Toti, senior counsel at The Lawyering Project, which has challenged Texas abortion laws. “It’s designed to discourage attorneys from representing clients who want to challenge unconstitutional abortion laws and basically to deny those clients their day in court.”
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/11/29/texas-abortion-law-could-make-it-harder-to-sue-over-future-restrictions/
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