Thread by @CAKitchener

I've talked to dozens of antiabortion protestors since I got to Texas: I've yet to find someone who is planning to file a tip or a lawsuit.

"Why would we?" one protestor said: Abortions have stopped — and a lawsuit would give courts a chance to block the law.

a 🧵on tiplines

Every time I ask Texas Right to Life about their tipline, they shrug it off. No serious tips have come in, they said, because no one is performing abortions. They don't have a test case prepped because they don't need one. They're already winning.

Legally, it's in their best interest *not* to file a lawsuit. This ban has succeeded where others failed because there's been no clear person or group for abortion rights groups to sue. The minute someone files a lawsuit, that changes.

This law is clearly unconstitutional, a violation of Roe v. Wade. So far, no judge has been in a position to consider its constitutionality because of these issues of standing. It's very likely that a lawsuit from antiabortion advocates would lead to the law being overturned.

Now, there could be some rogue antiabortion protestor who decides to say to hell with that, and who files a lawsuit anyway. But the more organized factions that I've been talking to have absolutely no interest.

Abortion providers "are responding to the law without a lawsuit," said John Pisciotta, director of Pro-Life Waco. "So it just doesn't come on my radar screen. We don't need it."

Which leads to the question: How does this law get overturned?

At this point, the best shot abortion rights groups have is to manufacture a lawsuit ... finding a doc who is willing to perform an illegal abortion, and someone who will sue him over it.