San Antonio City Council approves Reproductive Justice Fund — sort of

Although the $500,000 fund will be spent on reproductive health education, contraceptive access, STD testing and doula training, it won’t be used to cover out-of-state abortion care — one of the fund’s original purposes.

District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte — the most conservative member of the dais — abstained from Thursday’s vote. Meanwhile, District 7’s Marina Alderete Gavito was absent.

The fund will be paid for by Empower House SA, Latched Support Inc., San Antonio AIDS Foundation and Young Women’s Christian Association of San Antonio.

Although the fund won’t go to out-of-state travel for women seeking abortions, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and five other council members — District 1’s Sukh Kaur, D2’s Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, D3’s Phyllis Viagran, D5’s Teri Castillo and D6’s Melissa Cabello Havrda — voiced support for entertaining a separate fund dedicated to that use in the near future.

“That’s been the source of all the controversy,” Nirenberg said. “And so I would support a conversation, a discussion, after this to allocate dollars specifically for those services.”

Even so, that may be more easily said than done.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican and staunch culture warrior, filed a complaint against the City of Austin in September over its Reproductive Health Grant, which funds out-of-state abortion care travel expenses.

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This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.