San Antonio – San Antonio will make another attempt to help fund out-of-state travel for women seeking abortions.
But whether any groups successfully apply for that money or can use it in the face of possible legal challenges remains to be seen.
The council voted 6-5 Thursday to add another $100,000 to the city’s Reproductive Justice Fund so it can be awarded to groups providing what the city calls “downstream services.”
Travel expenses for women seeking legal abortions fall in that category, but it’s not the only one.
“It is going to allow people to get the health care that they need and want, regardless if that’s abortion care, Plan B, STI testing,” said Ariana Rodriguez, whose group, Jane’s Due Process, helped push for the fund’s creation in 2023. “There’s so many things that this is going to help fund.”
Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4), Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7), Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), Councilman John Courage (D9), and Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) voted against providing the money.
Rocha Garcia, Courage and Pelaez are all running for mayor.
Mayoral candidates Tim Westley and Rolando Pablos also spoke against the funding during the public comment period.
Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6), who led the push for the latest round of funding, was the only mayoral candidate to vote in favor of the money.
“This fund is how San Antonio is stepping up when other entities will not,” she said ahead of the vote.
This is the city’s second attempt to help fund out-of-state travel with the Reproductive Justice Fund.
The original $500,000 pot of money didn’t end up funding travel costs, as city staff said only two applicants included abortion navigation or transportation in their proposals, and neither of them made the final cut.
Even then, one of those groups, BEAT AIDS Coalition Trust, told KSAT it hadn’t included out-of-state travel due to concerns about the legality.
The new round of funding will only be open to the 10 groups who originally applied.
City staff say nine of the 10 applicants have indicated an interest in pursuing additional funding, and four are interested in pursuing funding for travel for abortion care: BEAT AIDS, Jane’s Due Process, Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas, and Young Women’s Christian Association of San Antonio.
City staff indicated one of the group’s interests was based on the city providing legal protection.
BEAT AIDS’ executive director told KSAT her group is cautiously interested but would need reassurances that paying for travel costs is legal and that some of her group’s other public funding wouldn’t be jeopardized by participating.
Legal challenges were a concern for dissenting council members, too, who argued that covering abortion travel costs was not the city’s role and that doing so could open it up to legal trouble.
“For $100,000, we’re buying a lawsuit, and we’re buying an injunction that will be granted by some judge out there,” Pelaez said. “And the cost of that lawsuit will eclipse the $100,000 by many orders of magnitude, and we’re going to lose that lawsuit.”
The city was sued by anti-abortion groups over the Reproductive Justice Fund shortly after the city created it. A state district court judge dismissed the case in April 2024, but the groups have appealed.
A city spokesman said the city has spent $450,000 in legal costs so far.
Though City Attorney Andy Segovia told council members “there is nothing before council today that violates local, state, or federal law,” the state legislature is also poised to directly crack down on funds like San Antonio’s or Austin’s.
Bills filed in both the Texas House and Senate propose banning government entities from using taxpayer resources to provide logistical support for obtaining an abortion or to contract with “abortion assistance entities.”
Neither bill has been voted on yet, but the Senate version has 18 of the 31 state senators listed as authors.
As proposed, the bill would have an effective date of Sept. 1 if passed.
City staff expect to have new contracts for the council to consider by the end of June, which, once approved, could start that summer.
City Manager Erik Walsh said these types of contracts are usually paid out through reimbursement rather than giving the applicant all the money upfront.
“We will design and write our contracts in such a way that whatever law passes, if it passes by the legislature, we will be able to pivot to be in compliance,” Segovia told council members.