Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that San Antonio has been temporarily halted from using taxpayer money to fund travel expenses for out-of-state abortions.
Paxton filed suit against San Antonio in April after city officials allocated $100,000 to a “reproductive justice fund” to assist pregnant women with expenses incurred while seeking an abortion out-of-state.
“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,” stated Paxton.
Forcing Texas taxpayers to subsidize abortion tourism is a profound insult to our state’s pro-life values and our laws protecting the unborn.
When the lawsuit was announced, Paxton demanded that the court find San Antonio’s practice of funding out-of-state abortions unconstitutional. He cited the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clause, which restricts the state and its political branches from using public money for private purposes.
After taking up the case, the trial court immediately dismissed it on the grounds that the issue was not yet ready for a decisive ruling, since no funds had yet been disbursed by the city.
Upon dismissal, the attorney general’s office appealed to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which issued an order blocking San Antonio from distributing the allocated funds.
“As we fight to shut down this program permanently, I’m grateful that the court has moved to stop the implementation of this illegal, radical policy,” added Paxton.
A court will still have to determine the merits of Paxton’s case, but the current order from the Fifteenth Court of Appeals stops the City of San Antonio from distributing the funds until the constitutionality of the program is decided.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 33, which goes into effect in September, makes it even clearer that local tax dollars cannot fund out-of-state abortions.
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