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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of San Antonio over the city’s plans to spend up to $100,000 on out-of-state abortion travel.
“The City of San Antonio is blatantly defying Texas law by using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion tourism,” Paxton said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “Beyond being an egregious misuse of public funds, it’s an attack on the pro-life values of our state. I will not stand by while rogue cities use tax dollars to circumvent state law and take the innocent lives of unborn children.”
The San Antonio City Council narrowly voted on Thursday to launch an expedited procurement process to spend up to $100,000 on “downstream” reproductive health care services, which includes out-of-state abortion travel.
Four of the 10 nonprofit organizations eligible to apply for a portion of the funding have stated their intent to propose using at least some funding for abortion-related services.
Paxton’s suit calls for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to prevent the city from moving forward with its plans. His lawsuit argues San Antonio has violated the state’s Gift Clause, Human Life Protection Act, and several pre-Roe v. Wade statutes related to abortion.
The city council did not vote on Thursday to allocate any taxpayer dollars to any particular services or organizations. But the vote did set up a process that will likely lead to taxpayer dollars being used to support out-of-state abortion travel. The city council will not vote on allocating any funds to particular organizations until June, according to a timeline from the Metropolitan Health District.
Paxton sued the City of Austin in September over a similar funding arrangement, and that lawsuit is ongoing.
During council debate on Thursday over the $100,000, City Attorney Andy Segovia made clear his legal opinion on what they were considering.
“There is nothing before council today that violates local, state, or federal law,” he said.
The City Attorney’s Office released the following statement after the lawsuit was announced:
“Yesterday’s Council action approved an expedited procurement process for the City to obtain proposals for downstream services, which may include travel,” the statement said. “The action did not award any funds for services. The City has not been served with the suit and will evaluate to respond to the specific allegations. We are still confident that the action Council took yesterday is compliant with local, state, and federal law.”
