Texas abortion funds ask federal panel to prevent prosecutions

Texas nonprofits that help people travel out of state for abortions asked the Fifth Circuit to preemptively block prosecution under a pre-Roe statute criminalizing 'furnishing the means for procuring an abortion.' Texas argues the century-old law was never repealed, while the Fifth Circuit has previously held the opposite, and no prosecutor has actually charged anyone under it since Dobbs.

District attorneys' attorney Heather Hacker told the panel the old law doesn't cover travel, funding, or lodging, and suggested the groups lack standing entirely — offering that as a cleaner off-ramp than wading into sovereign immunity questions. But she also conceded no formal assurance has been given, and Travis County's DA has said his office would pursue any case with probable cause.

The plaintiffs' attorney argued that silence from most prosecutors, paired with one DA's openness to enforcement, is exactly the kind of ambiguity that justifies a court ruling rather than trusting good faith. The panel, split across appointees of three different presidents, gave no indication of timing.

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