The Austin City Council has approved a one-year $150,000 contract with a group to offer free rides for women and teenagers to abortion clinics.
Last September the Council approved the funding as part of the current year’s budget, but the actual contract for the service wasn’t signed off on until today.
The Council members, all of whom are Democrats, support government funding of abortion clinics, which they consider a form of reproductive health care. But state law prohibits them from doing so; Senate Bill 22, passed last year, prohibits contracts between local governments and abortion providers.
The City Council found a way around that by offering funding for abortion-related “logistical support services,” like transportation, a baby sitter, or a hotel room for a woman to stay in before or after the surgery.
According to the City Council’s agenda for June 11, Item 44 would “authorize negotiation and execution of a contract with Jane’s Due Process, to provide logistical support services for abortion access, for a term of one year for a total contract amount not to exceed $150,000.”
The item was approved on the Council’s consent agenda, which is a procedure that allows numerous uncontested items to be approved as one, without separate votes or discussion.
The contracted organization, Jane’s Due Process, markets itself to teenagers and helps them to obtain abortions without parental permission. The homepage of its website says, “UNDER 18 AND NEED AN ABORTION? We know getting your parents’ permission isn’t always an option.”
The organization’s mission is to “ensure legal representation for pregnant minors across Texas,” according to the website: “Our goal is to have every pregnant teen know that she has the right to seek legal help, to be treated with respect and sensitivity…”
Critics oppose government-funded abortion because they consider an abortion to be the taking of a life. Mary Castle, a pro-life advocate, told the City Council during the citizen input portion of today’s meeting, “Austin residents do not want to see their tax dollars supporting abortion.”
“The City Council has chosen to exercise political posturing to see how far they can go before they can break the recently passed law, SB 22, that bans contracts between government entities and abortion providers,” said Castle, who is the Policy Advisor for a political organization called Texas Values.
“At a time when many lives are being lost to COVID-19 and people are losing their jobs due to the financial crisis, the City of Austin chooses to give money to an organization that persuades little girls to end lives and to get abortions behind their parents’ backs.”
“Austin residents need this $150,000 to support their families and to open the many businesses that have closed during the COVID-19 financial crisis, and we have all had to face financial hardships during this month.”
Austin’s funding for Jane’s Due Process isn’t the only pro-abortion measure taken by the city government. The city also offers Planned Parenthood the use of a city-owned building in East Austin, next to the city’s only historically black college. The $1-a-year lease isn’t affected by SB 22, because that new law doesn’t apply retroactively. The lease runs through 2039.
