UPDATED 4/24/20:
A new group of Fort Worth doctors has filed a federal class action suit against Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, the City of Fort Worth, and each of the city’s two abortion clinics. Dr. Alan Davenport has brought suit on behalf of a class of all medical professionals who are currently using or need personal protective equipment to provide essential and medically necessary health care. Dr. Robert Anderson and Dr. Mark Daniels, board certified plastic surgeons who practice in Fort Worth, are also plaintiffs in the suit. The lawsuit has been filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth division.
Similar to the previously reported state suit, this suit seeks an immediate injunction to prevent abortion providers from consuming personal protective equipment. Different from the state suit, among other things, the federal suit asserts equal protection and due process clause violations. The plaintiffs also request the court to declare that Texas law continues to define abortion as a felony and that abortion is not a constitutional right.
POSTED 4/21/20:
A group of doctors has sued Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, the City of Fort Worth, and each of the city’s two abortion clinics. The lawsuit is demanding a halt to elective abortions in Fort Worth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it seeks an immediate injunction to prevent abortion providers from consuming personal protective equipment (PPE) that is needed by doctors and nurses on the front lines of COVID-19. The lawsuit has been filed in a Tarrant County state district court.
The doctors include Dr. John Kelley, Dr. David Kostohryz, Dr. Bill Runyon, and Dr. Greg Scheideman. The lawsuit alleges that Mayor Price and the City of Fort Worth are violating Texas law by suspending elective surgeries and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic while allowing elective abortions to continue. On April 7, 2020, Mayor Price issued a stay-at-home order that prohibits all elective medical, surgical, and dental procedures within city limits. The city’s officials, however, have not clarified whether this stay-at-home order prohibits elective abortions, and abortion clinics in Fort Worth are continuing to perform abortions despite this city-wide ban on elective procedures. The lawsuit asks the Court to enjoin the city from enforcing its stay-at-home order until it is amended or clarified to prohibit abortion “on the same terms that it prohibits other elective surgeries and procedures.”
The lawsuit accuses the city’s abortion providers of “selfishly consuming personal protective equipment on elective and unlawful abortions, at a time when every piece of PPE must be conserved, to the maximum possible extent, for workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and others who are provide life-saving or essential medical treatments.” It is demanding an injunction that will stop elective abortions in Fort Worth for as long as other elective surgeries and procedures are suspended.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.