Friend,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you, a fellow ally in the fight to defend reproductive rights and abortion access for all. My name is Dr. Alan Braid, and for nearly 50 years, I have been a practicing OB/GYN in Texas.

I have cared for countless patients over the years, delivering more than 10,000 babies, and providing abortion care at clinics I own in Houston, San Antonio, and Tulsa. Then, on September 1, 2021, everything changed.

When Texas's abortion ban, S.B. 8, went into effect, it halted most abortion services in clinics across the state, including mine. The law bans nearly all abortion care beyond about the sixth week of pregnancy. I believe abortion is an integral part of women's health care. I believed it in the early 1970s before Roe v. Wade and I believe that today. But because of this ban, I've had to turn away scores of patients, including a 41-year-old mother of four who couldn't leave her children or her job to go out of state to access abortion services.

What is so insidious and cruel about this abortion ban is that anyone can sue someone who helps a person obtain an abortion past six weeks, including a physician, a relative, a friend, a significant other, faith leaders, or the driver who brings a patient to my clinic.

For me, when S.B. 8 took effect, it was like it was 1972 again. And that is why, on the morning of September 6, I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state's new limit. I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.

I have spent decades treating and helping patients. I couldn't just sit back and watch us return to the days before Roe v. Wade. Represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, my clinics are among the plaintiffs in an ongoing federal lawsuit to stop S.B. 8. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Center's case challenging this outrageous ban. Now, we await the Court's decision.

As we continue fighting this unconscionable law, I am grateful for my staff and clinic workers across the state who continue to show up for patients who need our help. I am grateful to the Center for their unwavering partnership and unparalleled expertise.

And I am grateful for you, as an ally in this fight and for your support of the Center so they can continue to defend reproductive rights as human rights—not just in Texas, but around the world.

Thank you,

Dr. Alan Braid
Owner of Alamo Women's Reproductive Services, Houston Women’s Reproductive Services, and Tulsa Women's Reproductive Clinic

P.S. If you'd like to do even more to support independent abortion clinics this season, please consider making a gift to the Abortion Care Network, a national association for community-based abortion care providers and their allies.