(LifeSiteNews) — The city of San Antonio, Texas is being sued by pro-life groups for a policy that specifies a significant amount of taxpayer money to support abortion facilities.
Earlier this week, the San Antonio Family Association (SAFA) and Texas Right to Life (TRTL) filed a joint complaint challenging the city’s move to “allocate $500,000 in taxpayer money to abortion-trafficking organizations that violate state law,” according to a press release shared with LifeSiteNews.
The complaint was filed on October 17 after the mayor and city council decided to “establish a so-called ‘Reproductive Justice Fund’ in the city’s budget for fiscal year 2024, which will provide grants to organizations that pay the travel costs of pregnant women who leave the state to kill their unborn children.”
The press release noted that the pro-abortion groups petitioned for support of a budget provision that “violate(s) Texas law by ‘procuring’ out-of-state abortions, which is a criminal act when any part of the procurement process occurs within Texas.”
“We will expose the criminal activities of these organizations and put an end to their violent and murderous acts,” SAFA president Michael Knuffke said, per the release. “Anyone involved with these abortion-trafficking organizations, including their donors, will be prosecuted under state law and sued under the Texas Heartbeat Act.”
Dr. John Seago, TRTL’s president, added that the “lawsuit will stop the city from violating the pro-life consciences of their citizens and protect women and their children from the predatory groups hoping to receive taxpayer funding.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit have been joined by several other pro-life groups and “dozens of individuals.” In addition to the complaint, plaintiffs have also issued a “notice of obligation to preserve documents and communications” to abortion funds, securing evidence for the case.
According to the complaint — which is directed to defendants Ron Nirenberg, mayor of San Antonio, the city of San Antonio and city manager Erik Walsh — Texas law states that anyone who “knowingly procure to be administered with her [pregnant woman] consent any drug or medicine … and thereby procure an abortion … shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years.”
“This statute imposes felony criminal liability on any person” who “procures” an abortion. This includes “any part of the ‘procurement’ activity” that takes place in the state of Texas, regardless of whether the actual abortion is committed in another state. The complaint argues that each abortion fund organization contributing to the city’s budget provision is engaged in such illegal “procurement” acts.
The lawsuit is seeking “a declaration that the provision in the city’s budget establishing the Reproductive Justice Fund is invalid” due to violations of state law, prohibition of the abortion organizations collecting taxpayer funding and “a temporary and permanent injunction” preventing city officials from giving taxpayer dollars to the groups.
Texas law bans abortion throughout pregnancy, with limited exceptions to spare the mother’s life. However, abortions committed for this exception must be done in a manner to give the baby the highest probability of survival. No facilities commit abortions throughout the state, with most of them are completely shut down.
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