Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author.
In mid-September, Attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell, the architect of the private enforcement mechanism of the Texas Heartbeat Act, filed discovery requests against the Lilith Fund, Fund Texas Choice, the Frontera Fund, the Afiya Center, the West Fund, Jane’s Due Process, Buckle Bunnies Fund, the Clinic Access Support Network, and abortionist Ghazaleh Moayedi.
The discovery requests, filed on behalf of several clients of Mitchell, were made as part of the Fund Texas Choice v. Paxton (2023) case. Defendant Mistie Sharp’s first set of written discovery to plaintiff Lilith Fund states, “The federal rules of civil procedure require Lilith Fund to submit its answers in writing and under oath, and to serve those answers on Ms. Sharp’s attorney. The interrogatories must be: (i) answered separately and fully in writing under oath on the basis of all available information; (ii) signed by the person answering them; and (iii) served on Ms. Sharp’s attorney within thirty (30) days after service of the interrogatories, unless the Court extends the time for answering.”
A few of the interrogatories are as follows:
Interrogatory No. 2: Identify all persons who you believe have knowledge of any past violation of the Texas Heartbeat Act (also known as Senate Bill 8), and identify the issues upon which you believe they have knowledge.
Interrogatory No. 3: Identify all persons who you believe have knowledge of any person that intends to violate the Texas Heartbeat Act (also known as Senate Bill 8) at any point in the future, and identify the issues upon which you believe they have knowledge.
Interrogatory No. 4: Identify all persons of whom you are aware, as well as those whom you can identify after undertaking a reasonable inquiry with the exercise of due diligence, that dispense abortion-inducing drugs to pregnant women residing in Texas and allow or instruct any one of those pregnant women to complete any part of the abortion process in Texas, either by ingesting either of the two abortion-inducing drugs in Texas or by expelling the unborn child in Texas.
Defendant Shannon D. Thomason’s first set of written discovery to plaintiff Lilith Fund, contains a different set of interrogatories. The first interrogatory reads:
Interrogatory No. 1: Identify every abortion that you have assisted or facilitated in any way since September 1, 2021. This includes every abortion that you paid for in whole or in part, subsidized in any way, or reimbursed or defrayed the costs of, including payments, subsidies, or reimbursements made for travel costs, lodging, childcare, or any other cost or expense associated with an abortion or a person’s efforts to obtain an abortion. This also includes abortions for which you provided any type of practical, logistical, and emotional support.
For each of these abortions described in Thomason’s Interrogatory No.1, the abortion advocate is asked to provide (1) the date or dates on which the abortion occurred, (2) the name, address, and telephone number of the abortion provider who performed the abortion or provided the abortion-inducing drugs, (3) the method by which the abortion was performed, (4) whether the abortion was self-managed, (5) the gestational age of the unborn child that was aborted, (6) the city and state of residence of the mother who aborted or sought to abort her unborn child, (7) the identity of everyone who was a part of the abortion assistance organization involved in assisting or facilitating the abortion, (8) how the abortion assistance organization assisted or facilitated the abortion, and (9) the identity of every person, other than the mother of the unborn child and her family members, who assisted or facilitated the abortion and how those persons assisted or facilitated the abortion.
The request also seeks to obtain (10) the identity of every person who assisted or facilitated the abortion through violating any of the provisions of the Comstock Act found in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–1462, and (11) the identity of every person who performed any act within the state of Texas that “procured” the abortion, regardless of where the abortion actually took place.
If the abortion was drug-induced, the abortion advocates are asked for (12) the locations where each of the abortion pills was ingested or swallowed by the mother who aborted or who sought to abort her unborn child. If the abortion assistance organization assisted the abortion by paying for or facilitating abortion-related travel, the abortion advocate is asked to describe (13) where the abortion-related travel began and ended and to identify every county in Texas where the abortion-related travel passed through.
Other interrogatories from Thomason’s first set of written discovery includes:
Interrogatory No. 2: Identify every person involved with the activities or mission of Lilith Fund, including its employees, officers, board members, volunteers, donors, and financial supporters.
Interrogatory No. 3: Identify every person that you believe may have violated the Texas Heartbeat Act (also known as Senate Bill 8), since the statute took effect on September 1, 2021, and explain the conduct that you believe may have violated the Texas Heartbeat Act (also known as Senate Bill 8).
Interrogatory No. 4: Identify every person that you believe may have violated the criminal abortion laws of Texas, and explain the conduct that you believe may have violated the state’s criminal abortion laws.
In response to the filing, Afiya Center Executive Director Marsha Jones told the Huff Post, “It’s about making it so difficult that people wouldn’t even dare think about getting an abortion, so difficult that people wouldn’t even dare think about providing an abortion.” In response to the request for donor information, Jones shared, “Donors are the lifeline of this work. If they can scare donors away, they can potentially shut us down.”
If this information is obtained, the information could be used as evidence in court of violations of several state, county, and local anti-abortion laws.
West Texas for Life President Jim Baxa shared, “There are over 50 political subdivisions in Texas that have ‘Sanctuary for the Unborn’ ordinances in effect. If violations are found to have occurred in any of those cities or counties, the abortion funds who assisted in those violations could be sued into oblivion.” Baxa continued, “Did any of these abortion funds assist with an abortion within the city limits of Lubbock? If so, they are in big trouble! Did any of these abortion funds assist with an abortion that was performed on a resident of Abilene, Athens, Odessa, or San Angelo while they were in the State of New Mexico? If so, again, they are in big trouble.”
