Professor Martha Davis Spearheads Amicus Brief in Texas Abortion Ban Case

11.27.23 —A group of the nation’s preeminent law professors and legal scholars, including Professor Martha Davis, has submitted an amicus brief in Texas v. Zurawski, a case challenging Texas’ abortion ban. The brief filed November 21 argues that the Texas state constitution provides independent protection for the life and health of pregnant people, and that this protection is violated by the operation of the Texas statute that purports to ban abortion except in the case of a life-threatening medical emergencies.

“The vagueness of the Texas statute in practice, and the criminal penalties facing doctors who provide abortions outside of that narrow window, mean that many Texans facing serious health consequences or carrying non-viable pregnancies are denied abortion,” said Davis, who serves as faculty director for Northeastern Law’s Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy  and the NuLawLab, is an affiliated faculty member of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Northeastern University and a visiting fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School of Government. “We argue that the Texas constitution mandates greater respect for the life and health of pregnant people, and that the state constitution is violated by the operation of the Texas statute.”

In addition to Davis, the brief is joined by Lawrence Friedman of New England Law Boston, Helen Hershkoff of NYU School of Law, G. Alan Tarr of Rutgers University, Robert F. Williams of Rutgers University and Justin Long of Wayne State University Law School.  The amici are represented by the law firms of Milbank and Henneman Rau Kirklin & Smith.