After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week—allowing states to outlaw the practice of dismembering, poisoning, or using any other means to kill a baby in the womb—the Democrat-run Austin City Council wants to retaliate.
Councilmembers Vanessa Fuentes and Jose “Chito” Vela have proposed the “Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone (GRACE)” Act, a resolution aiming to effectively “decriminalize” abortion in Austin. The document recommends the Austin Police Department not store reports of soon-to-be-illegal abortions, give related information to other government agencies, nor investigate the businesses exterminating the preborn children.
Ironically, the resolution refuses to recognize women, instead labeling them as “pregnant people.”
Texas has a coming state law (to be activated within 30 days) to ban the abortion practice statewide, and similar existing laws were already on the books before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. However, district attorneys across Texas and the Austin City Council are trying to find ways to avoid enforcing the upcoming ban.
“We understand that we’re bound by state laws. We have to take the report. We have to accept the report from the citizen or whoever,” Councilmember Vela told FOX 7. “However, we don’t want to do much more than take the report, ideally.”
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza and DAs in some of Texas’ largest metropolitan counties have said they will refuse to prosecute abortion businesses.
“In other words, add ‘abortion providers’ to the list of crimes you will not be arrested for in #Austin (homicide, child sex predators, [aggravated] assault, it’s cool, no one will prosecute you),” replied one citizen on social media.
“Facilitation of homicide!” wrote another.
“There is no right to an abortion, there never was, and any council member, mayor, police chief, or DA that goes along with this should be removed from office,” one individual posted.
“Imagine a world where people are mad about saving babies,” another commented.
The Austin City Council is currently scheduling a special meeting to consider the proposal in late July.
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