A Texas obstetrics and gynecology doctor confessed Saturday to performing an abortion in defiance of a new state law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, "Why I violated Texas’s extreme abortion ban," Dr. Alan Braid explained his reasoning for the abortion performed on Sept. 6.

“I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care,” Dr. Braid wrote. “I fully understood that there could be legal consequences — but I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested.”

Baird admitted that he is "taking a personal risk."

"Represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, my clinics are among the plaintiffs in an ongoing federal lawsuit to stop S.B. 8," the op-ed reads.

The OB/GYN doctor has been practicing for 45 years and operates his own abortion clinics in Houston and San Antonio, as well as Oklahoma.

Braid began his career in 1972, just before the passing of Roe v. Wade. In the op-ed, he noted why it made him understand the importance of abortions as an essential part of healthcare.

“At the hospital that year, I saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions,” he wrote. “One I will never forget. When she came into the E.R., her vaginal cavity was packed with rags. She died a few days later from massive organ failure, caused by a septic infection."

Now, he says that with the new abortion law in place, “it is 1972 all over again.”

Women come into Braid’s office for multiple different reasons, he says that they never ask but usually patients will explain why they have come in. Events like finishing school, having multiple children already, abusive relationships, or that it’s just not the right time are some reasons an abortion would be performed. A child could highly disrupt the lives of people with these situations in mind.

Nancy Northup, the president and chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights, is representing Braid in the lawsuit. She said in a statement that he had “courageously stood up against this blatantly unconstitutional law.”

“We stand ready to defend him against the vigilante lawsuits that S.B. 8 threatens to unleash against those providing or supporting access to constitutionally protected abortion care,” Northup said.

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