Jezebel write
A Texas lawyer is trying to get the names of donors to nine abortion funds in the state, as well as information on every abortion the funds may have assisted with since September 2021, when the state’s bounty-hunter law took effect. He’s seeking the identities of thousands of people in Texas and across the country in a move that advocates say could threaten the operations of the non-profit groups, which are already struggling to raise enough money.
The effort isn’t likely to be successful because the First Amendment protects people’s right to associate, but the lawyer doesn’t need a judge to agree with him in order to cause harm for abortion seekers. Just the act of requesting the information could be enough to scare people out of donating to abortion funds, said Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director for If/When/How, an advocacy organization that helps abortion seekers with legal questions and runs a defense fund for criminal abortion cases.
“It’s chilling [to] anybody who has even wanted to donate and making them think twice about whether their name might end up on some list,” Diaz-Tello told Jezebel, adding, “If they can just sow a seed of doubt, then they can effectively cut people off from support.”
Money donated to abortion funds most often goes toward the costs of travel, lodging, and the procedure itself. With fewer donations, more women and pregnant people in ban states like Texas are trapped and can’t get abortions elsewhere. Diaz-Tello said just the filing of these discovery requests can lead to news coverage that makes people wrongly believe it’s illegal to donate to abortion funds or to ask for help from those organizations. “That is precisely what the chilling effect is. What people think the law is, is just as important as what the law actually is,” she said. “The confusion is the point.”
The requests were made earlier this month by Jonathan Mitchell on behalf of his client, a Texas resident who is a defendant in a proactive lawsuit filed by abortion funds. Mitchell, the former Solicitor General of Texas, is engaged in a multi-front attack on abortion seekers. He helped write Texas S.B. 8, the six-week abortion ban enforced by bounty hunter lawsuits in civil court. He is currently representing a man suing his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her get an abortion, which the man only knew about because he intensely surveilled her. Mitchell is also working on a campaign to make it illegal to drive someone on roads within certain Texas cities or towns if the end destination is an abortion clinic in another state.
Jezebel contacted Mitchell for comment about the requests to abortion funds, and he declined to speak on the record. The plaintiff abortion funds said in a press release that “Mitchell and his clients are abusing the discovery process…to subject thousands of people to mass surveillance and harassment.”
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https://jezebel.com/texas-abortion-fund-donor-names-lawsuit-1850884550
