Whole Woman's Health et al v. Jackson et al

Filing 19

MOTION for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law in Support by Alamo Women's Reproductive Services, Alamo City Surgery Center PLLC, Brookside Women's Medical Center PA, Erika Forbes, Frontera Fund, Fund Texas Choice, Allison Gilbert, Houston Women's Clinic, Houston Women's Reproductive Services, Jane's Due Process, Daniel Kanter, Bhavik Kumar, Lilith Fund, Inc., North Texas Equal Access Fund, Planned Parenthood Center for Choice, Planned Parenthood South Texas Surgical Center, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health Services, Marva Sadler, Southwestern Women's Surgery Center, The Afiya Center, Whole Woman's Health, Whole Women's Health Alliance. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A. Gilbert Declaration, #2 Exhibit B. Kumar Declaration, #3 Exhibit C. Ferrigno Declaration, #4 Exhibit D. Klier Declaration, #5 Exhibit E. Lambrecht Declaration, #6 Exhibit F. Linton Declaration, #7 Exhibit G. Hagstrom Miller Declaration, #8 Exhibit H. Braid Declaration, #9 Exhibit I. Rosenfeld Declaration, #10 Exhibit J. Barraza Declaration, #11 Exhibit K. Sadler Declarationb, #12 Exhibit L. Zamora Declaration, #13 Exhibit M. Jones Declaration, #14 Exhibit N. Rupani Declaration, #15 Exhibit O. Connor Declaration, #16 Exhibit P. Williams Declaration, #17 Exhibit Q. Kanter Declaration, #18 Exhibit R. Forbes Declaration, #19 Exhibit S. Mariappuram Declaration)(Hebert, Christen)

Exhibit K

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AUSTIN DIVISION
WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
AUSTIN REEVE JACKSON, et al.,
Defendants.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

CIVIL ACTION
CASE NO. _______________

DECLARATION OF MARVA SADLER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
MARVA SADLER hereby declares under penalty of perjury that the following statements are
true and correct:
1. I am the Senior Director of Clinical Services with Whole Woman’s Health (“WWH”) and
Whole Woman’s Health Alliance (“WWHA”). WWH currently owns and operates three abortion
clinics in Texas: in Fort Worth (the “Fort Worth Clinic”), McAllen (the “McAllen clinic”) and
McKinney (the “North Texas Clinic”). WWHA owns and operates an abortion clinic in Austin,
Texas (the “Austin Clinic”). WWH and WWHA are both plaintiffs in this case. I am also a
plaintiff in my individual capacity.
2. I have been working in abortion clinics for over fifteen years and I have been working
with WWH since 2008. As a result, I am well-versed in abortion clinic operations and patient
care.
3. I provide the following testimony based on personal knowledge and review of WWH’s
and WWHA’s business records.

1

Background and Role
4. I was born in Detroit but raised in Texas since the age of 3. Early in my career, I served
various roles in the medical field, working as a medical assistant, patient technician, and
paramedic. In 2005, I took a job as a patient advocate at an abortion clinic in Waco, Texas. I
enjoyed this work so much that I worked my way up and eventually became the manager of that
clinic.
5. I was introduced to Amy Hagstrom Miller and WWH in 2008. I was impressed by the
way they centered the patient experience in every aspect of their work, and I accepted a job as
the clinic manager of the WWH clinic in Beaumont, Texas. The Beaumont Clinic has since
closed due to a separate restrictive abortion law, House Bill 2 from 2013.
6. Over the next 10 years with WWH, I held a variety of positions: I served as clinic
manager of the Fort Worth Clinic, clinic manager of the San Antonio Clinic, and then the
Director of Clinical Services South, supervising the clinic managers of the San Antonio, Fort
Worth, and McAllen Clinics. The San Antonio Clinic has since closed.
7. In 2018, I was promoted to my current role as Senior Director of Clinical Services. In this
role, I am responsible for overseeing all of the clinical operations of all four Texas clinics, which
involves a variety of responsibilities. I manage human resources for our clinical staff, including
hiring, training, and physician scheduling. I oversee clinic compliance with state and federal law.
I supervise the development of new medical services and programs. I also work with our
associate director of clinical services and our medical director to create and update our clinic
policies and procedures. Finally, I coordinate with members of the executive team who are
responsible for other aspects of the organization, including finances, equipment, security

2

concerns, and vendor services. Generally, if an issue arises at one of our clinics, from a patient
concern to a security issue, the issue is elevated to me.
8. For example, when an anti-abortion individual infiltrated our Austin Clinic and
distributed handouts to staff inviting them to report violations of S.B. 8, I was notified and
assisted with the incident reporting and other repercussions.
9. I am often involved in addressing issues and incidents related to protesters, who are
regularly stationed outside each of our Texas clinics.
Impact of Texas Senate Bill 8
10. I understand that Texas Senate Bill 8 (‘S.B. 8”) prohibits a physician from providing an
abortion if they have detected fetal or embryonic cardiac activity or if they have failed to test for
cardiac activity.
11. Since embryonic or fetal cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks gestation,
as measured from the first day of a patient’s last menstrual period (“LMP”), S.B. 8 bans almost
all abortion in Texas.
12. Only approximately 10% of the patients at all four WWH/WWHA clinics obtain an
abortion before six weeks LMP.
13. If we are not able to help these patients in Texas, we will do our best to connect them
with services in another state. However, not everyone can travel out of state. Almost all of the
states neighboring Texas are also hostile to abortion rights, so many patients will probably have
to fly across the country to receive care. Patients have childcare, work, and school
responsibilities. It is expensive to travel, particularly by plane, to have an abortion, and many of
our patients have low incomes or are poor. If the patient wants to keep their abortion private for

3

any number of reasons, including their personal safety, it is much harder to do so if they are
traveling out of state.
14. It makes me incredibly sad to think about what abortion access would look like in Texas
if care is unavailable after six weeks LMP. We know from experience that some patients will be
forced to remain pregnant. I was working for WWH in 2013 when House Bill 2 took effect,
closing several of our clinics, and this had a devastating impact on our patients. Last year, when
Governor Abbott issued an Executive Order that temporarily shut down abortion access in Texas
for approximately three weeks, we had to send panicked patients home from our clinics, and I
know some of them were never able to get the care they needed.
15. I understand that another aspect of S.B. 8 is that it is not directly enforced by state
officials but by private citizens. These private citizens can sue physicians performing abortions
after six weeks LMP, as well as anyone who “aids or abets” the performance of an abortion after
six weeks. If the private citizen wins their lawsuit, the physician or “aider or abettor” can be
banned from providing or helping to provide abortions after six weeks LMP and ordered to pay
$10,000 or more per abortion, as well as costs and attorney’s fees. I understand that even if
someone has not violated S.B. 8, they could still be sued and would have to travel to a state court
somewhere in Texas, hire a lawyer, and defend themselves.
16. Based on the work I do at WWH and WWHA, I am very concerned that I will personally
be targeted by lawsuits under S.B. 8. In my current role, I am involved in virtually every aspect
of abortion services, either directly or indirectly. In addition to the management I provide for our
clinics, I am personally involved in patient care. I generally spend at least one day a month on
site at the clinics, filling in for staff members or providing an extra set of hands for intake,
payment and funding, pathology, patient counseling, and assistance during procedures.
4

17. I also understand that S.B. 8 includes a fee-shifting provision that makes parties and their
attorneys liable to pay the costs and attorney’s fees in cases challenging Texas laws that restrict
abortion.
18. I am concerned that because WWH and WWHA frequently file cases to challenge
unconstitutional abortion laws, S.B. 8’s fee-shifting provision could make us liable for costs and
attorney’s fees in these cases, impairing our ability to use litigation to vindicate our rights and
those of our patients.
19. The uncertainty created by S.B. 8 has already had a significant impact on our clinics. Our
staff are worried that the clinics will be forced to close and they will be out of a job. While we
generally have low staff turnover, ever since S.B. 8 started receiving public attention, staff began
to express serious fears that their jobs would no longer exist come September 1. In fact, over the
last several months, we have lost around one staff member every week, including one of our
clinic directors. We have been interviewing replacements for these positions, but every applicant
brings up S.B. 8 during their interview, asking questions I just can’t answer. Our physicians are
concerned if they will still be able to travel to Texas to perform abortions in September.
20. Because of our staffing challenges, I have had to spend much more time—1-2 days per
week—on-site at the clinics filling in for missing staff. This has been going on for months, and
the problem is only getting worse.
21. I do not want to be sued just for coming to work to do my job. I do this work because I
believe it is the right thing to do. I have spoken with my family and they understand what might
happen and they support me.
22. More than anything, S.B. 8 fills me with sadness. I am sad for our patients, who already
overcome so much, on a daily basis, just to make their way into our clinics. I feel terrible for our
5

staff, who are already giving everything they can to our patients, but are now worried for their
own livelihood and their families. We have been through this type of challenge before, with the
clinic closures caused by House Bill 2, but at least then we knew roughly what to expect. This
time, I feel helpless and uncertain.
23. Because S.B. 8 is already disrupting our work, I am deeply concerned about what will
happen in September. I want to continue helping Texas patients access the care they need in a
non-judgmental supportive environment, as I have done for the past thirteen years. I don’t know
if Texas will let me.

6

Dated: July 8, 2021
________________________________
MARVA SADLER

7