Last week A Texas lawmaker who is part of a legislative caucus accused the Sidley Austin law firm of appearing to be “complicit in illegal abortions”. According to Reuters, “Representative Cody Vasut is “of counsel” in the Houston office of BakerHostetler, an Ohio-founded firm with about 1,000 lawyers nationally. Vasut is also one of 11 state lawmakers in the Texas Freedom Caucus, which said it would introduce legislation making law firms criminally liable and requiring disbarment for Texas attorneys who help to pay for abortions or abortion travel.
The caucus said in a July 7 letter to Sidley that the Chicago-based firm “may have aided or abetted drug-induced abortions” in violation of Texas law and warned it to preserve any relevant records in anticipation of being sued.”
The legislators are previously, “have led the charge to pass laws to restrict abortion for nearly a quarter-century, but until recently, federal courts let the procedure continue, striking down laws that impinged too much on what was for 49 years a constitutional right.” the Dallas Morning News said.
The letter sent to a law firm that planned to reimburse travel costs for employees seeking an abortion
Businesses Insider India has talked about the threatening letter the Texas GOP sent to a law firm that planned to reimburse travel costs for employees seeking an abortion. They said, “In the letter, which was addressed to Sidley Austin LLP, the 11 representatives of the caucus wrote that legislation will be introduced to impose civil and criminal sanctions on law firms that pay for abortion or abortion travel.
“We are writing to inform you of the consequences that you and your colleagues will face for these actions,” it said.
The proposed legislation will prohibit any employer in the state from paying for elective abortions or reimbursing abortion-related costs regardless of where the abortion occurs. According to these lawmakers, private citizens will be allowed to sue anyone who pays for an elective abortion performed on a Texas resident.”
