DALLAS — Former North Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, best known for her 13-hour filibuster against an abortion bill in 2013, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday over Senate Bill 8, contending the restrictions that went into effect on Sept. 1 banning abortions after six weeks is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit argues that the law violates the plaintiff’s due process and free speech and asks the court to declare both this law and Texas’ older abortion law unenforceable.
“We are asking the courts today to stop the unconstitutional harassment of abortion funds by confirming SB 8 cannot be used to silence donors with bogus threats,” Davis said in a statement.
SB 8 has survived every legal challenge since it was enacted, and has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Most recently, the Texas Supreme Court sent the case back to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals after certifying a question on state law, whether or not the law allowed state licensing officials to reprimand providers who violate the law.
The state’s high court decided that officials could not revoke licenses because they had no enforcement power under the law, which is enforced through private citizens. The ruling effectively threw out abortion providers challenge to the law.
Davis is a former Fort Worth lawmaker who went on to win the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014 but was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott. She says in the suit that the law has created a “chilling effect” for volunteers and donors of abortion funds, especially after state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, sent cease and desist letters to abortion funds across the state last month in which he attached pre-Roe statutes alleging that they are still applicable under Texas law.
Davis, who works for and donates to the Lilith Fund, will stop donations until clarity over legal questions is achieved, the lawsuit says.
“Accordingly, she intends not to make any additional donations to Texas abortion funds until the Court provides clarity on this issue,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday aims at destroying the pre-Roe statutes while also arguing that SB 8 is unconstitutional.
Davis has been critical of the SB 8, as a long supporter of abortion access. In a January interview with The Dallas Morning News before the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, she warned of the impact of restrictions.
“Texas is a prime example of what we’re looking at in the coming months and we don’t even have a complete ban here and we’ve already seen the catastrophic consequence of what a six-week ban looks like. Texas is one of 12 states that has a trigger law. And there are 20 states that have some form of trigger law where abortion will be either completely banned or severely curtailed if it’s overturned by the supreme court in June,” Davis said in January.
She is joined in the suit by the Stigma Relief Fund, a fund associated with abortion provider Whole Woman’s Health, and Marva Sadler and Sean Mehl, who both serve on the group’s board.
Sadler and Mehl say in the suit that they have stopped donating to abortion funds “until the Court clarifies whether and to what extent (they) can face liability for doing so.”
Safler, Mehl, and Davis are suing Sadie Weldon and Ashley Maxwell as well, two activist which have been involved in suits with the abortion funds. The two women filed petitions in January and February, seeking to depose leaders of the Texas Equal Access Fund and the Lilith Fund.
In March, the Texas Equal Access Fund and Lilith Fund sued the women along with the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based nonprofit law firm, and America First Legal Foundation, a D.C.-based advocacy group, are the two organizations listed in the lawsuit.
Davis is an icon of Texas Democrats for her 2013 filibuster that still inspires abortion rights activists.
The former Fort Worth senator talked 13 hours to block an abortion restrictions bill, killing it by talking past the midnight deadline to end a special legislative session. The bill ultimately passed in a second special session, but Davis garnered national attention and the move helped launch her unsuccessful run for governor against Abbott in 2014.
Davis’ speech lasted long enough to become the longest in Texas history by a female senator. Her record was broken in 2021 when Sen. Carol Alvarado ended her filibuster of a GOP-backed elections bill after 15 hours. Her effort gave Democrats a platform to outline their criticisms of the legislation, but ultimately only delayed its passage.
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