A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Texas abortion funds are not required to disclose sensitive information of their clients and staffers, as part of an ongoing lawsuit to resume operations under the state’s abortion ban.
First reported by the Houston Chronicle, the fund sued the state in 2022 seeking protection as they assist people in accessing legal abortions in other states, because Texas bans the procedure, except when the mother’s life is in danger. While the lawsuit is ongoing, some funds have paused their operations, while others have continued to work at limited capacity.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower ruled that revealing sensitive information like clients’ and staffers’ names would have a “significant chilling effect on the rights to free expression and association of plaintiffs and their volunteers.” Furthermore, she denied a request that would have required abortion funds to disclose and describe all activities that could be deemed prosecutable, stating that the request was too broad and could infringe on their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Previously, Smith County District Attorney Jacob Putnam had requested detailed information from the abortion funds, but both sides reached an agreement to narrow the scope of these requests. However, Hightower’s ruling decisively rejected the two more controversial requests.
Attorneys for the funds argued that they could not adequately answer the request without risking self-incrimination or making legal determinations about what actions might be prosecutable.
Andrew Stephens, Putnam’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a Chronicle’s request for comment asking whether they would change the ruling.
This ruling aligns with earlier court decisions that similarly denied requests for sensitive information by other defendants involved in the case.
