“It’s an attack on the pro-life values of our state,” Texas AG Ken Paxton said. The city is currently exploring its options.
SAN ANTONIO — A Texas court has temporarily stopped the City of San Antonio from funding efforts to help residents travel out of state to get abortions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city in an effort to shut down its “Reproductive Justice Fund” in April.
The city appropriated $100,000 of the fund for downstream services – including travel for abortions. The city said the program was meant to help fill gaps in sexual and reproductive health.
Paxton had said the program represented an “egregious misuse of public funds.”
“It’s an attack on the pro-life values of our state,” Paxton said in a previous news release. “I will not stand by while rogue cities use tax dollars to circumvent state law and take the innocent lives of unborn children.”
Paxton appealed what his office called an “erroneous trial court decision,” and a Texas appeals court now has temporarily blocked the City of San Antonio from using the fund for this purpose. The hold will continue as Paxton’s appeal moves through the judicial system.
“Temporarily preventing expenditure of these funds while the State’s appeal proceeds ensures public funds are not irrecoverably spent in violation of the Texas Constitution,” the ruling by the state’s 15th Court of Appeals said.
Paxton reiterated his objection to the program and called it “illegal” and “radical policy.”
“Under absolutely no circumstances should any Texas city be funding out-of-state abortion travel, and I will continue to work tirelessly to end this cruel, unlawful, and morally bankrupt program,” Paxton said in a news release.
The city’s attorney office released the following statement after the news was announced.
“The city is disappointed with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals’ decision yesterday and its broad prohibition. It is unprecedented in nature, and the city is exploring its options.”