Texas doctor who says he performed abortion sued under new law

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A San Antonio doctor who wrote a Washington Post op-ed claiming that he had violated Texas' six-week abortion ban now faces a lawsuit brought against him under the ban.

Dr. Alan Braid had all but dared supporters of the near-total ban on abortion to try making an early example of him and file a lawsuit. That's the only way the restrictions can be enforced.

The lawsuit was filed Monday afternoon 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 doctor in Bexar County.

Braid, in the Washington Post opinion column over the weekend, became the first Texas abortion provider to publicly reveal he defied the law that took effect on Sept. 1.

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.

Stilley's lawsuit was first reported by The Washington Post.