Wendy Davis files latest challenge to Texas abortion law

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis sued Tuesday over the most restrictive abortion law in effect in the U.S., nearly a decade after her 13-hour filibuster of another anti-abortion measure made her an overnight Democratic star.

The lawsuit is the latest attempt to halt the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Courts have repeatedly turned back multiple other challenges and kept the law in place since September

That includes both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court, defeats that left attorneys for Texas abortion clinics acknowledging that their path to stopping the law had effectively shut.

Like past challenges, Davis calls the law unconstitutional but a takes a different legal approach, suing a Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who earlier this year accused Citigroup of circumventing the law by offering to pay travel expenses for employees who go out of state to seek an abortion. Cain did not immediately respond to an email sent Tuesday evening.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, also names three private citizens who Davis accuses of using or threatening to use the law’s unique mechanism that enforces the law only trough private lawsuits.

Davis’ filibuster propelled a failed run for Texas governor. She also lost a bid for Congress in 2020 and now works with abortion funds.

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