Austin City Council Ends Abortion Fund, Proving the Law is a Teacher and a Principal Voice for Life

By: Mary Elizabeth Castle, JD, originally published September 18, 2025, Society of Sebastian

My last article was about the long-awaited victory of the Texas Legislature passing Senate Bill 33, a law to stop cities like Austin from funding abortion related services. Much has happened since that article was published. Governor Greg Abbott held a bill signing ceremony for the bill on August 19. Not all bills receive a special ceremony; Governor Abbott signs many of the hundreds of bills passed in the Texas Legislature without a ceremony. Thus, Governor Abbott having a special ceremony inviting pro-life groups like Texas Values, and members of the Texas legislature, indicates the importance of passing Senate Bill 33. Nevertheless, the ceremony might not have been simply a celebration of a long-fought battle but also a warning to the Austin City Council that they must discontinue their “reproductive justice fund.”

After the bill signing ceremony in mid-August, Senate Bill 33 went into effect on September 1, like other laws that were passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law.  Governor Abbott officially signed Senate Bill 33 on June 20, but having a special ceremony with the bill authors: Senator Donna Campbell and Representative Candy Noble, signaled to the media and cities that absolving reproductive justice funds is an important policy initiative for Texas. In addition to inviting the bill authors, others in attendance included members of the Texas House and Texas Senate, and other pro-life groups like Texas Values, Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life, and Texans for Life.  After three sessions, Texas taxpayers – specifically those in Austin – finally had a law that would hold cities accountable for trying to find creative ways to assist with abortions. However, the longer that the Texas Legislature waited to pass a bill to stop cities from funding abortion relates services, the funding for such services in Austin and San Antonio continued to increase. Austin City Council increased their reproductive justice fund from a starting amount of $150,000 to $400,000 over a period of 5 years[1].  San Antonio started their Reproductive Justice Fund with a whopping $500,000 in 2023 and voted for an additional $100,000 for abortion travel and support, which the San Antonio City Council called “downstream” support. [2]  It is a guarantee that the continued pork barreling of taxpayer dollars to create funds that take the life of the preborn child led to the passage of Senate Bill 33. To read more about the legislative hearings and legislative history of Senate Bill 33, you can read my article that was published in June: “Texas Legislature to Austin & San Antonio: Stop Evading Texas Law with Taxpayer-funded Abortion Funds”.

The question that remains after Governor Abbott signs a bill into law is: will the law be enforced? In the past, abortion advocacy groups and lawyers have filed lawsuits to enjoin pro-life laws from going into effect. An example of this is when Whole Women’s Health sued to stop the Texas Heartbeat Law from going into effect[3]. Other methods include government entities blatantly refusing to comply with laws. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza was one among a few District Attorney’s who said he would not prosecute any abortion cases[4]. An appropriate response to these acts of resistance to pro-life laws has been for the issue to be resolved in court, the Texas Attorney General enforcing the law, or the Texas legislature responding with clarifying legislation. The San Antonio City Council had its “reproductive justice fund” discontinued in one of these traditional ways that we see enforcement. On June 20, the same day that the governor signed SB 33, the 15th Court of Appeals in Texas issued an order that San Antonio “refrain from distributing payments from the $100,000 in funding that was newly allocated to the Reproductive Justice Fund[5]”. This order was the result of an appeal Attorney General Ken Paxton made of a lower court decision regarding his lawsuit against the City of San Antonio for creating an “abortion tourism” fund. [6] Almost as soon as it began, San Antonio’s Reproductive Justice Fund was ended. In fact, the City of San Antonio mentioned in their legal response that no contracts had been finalized and no funds had been dispersed[7].

With San Antonio having their fund stopped legally and with a method that most Texans have come to expect, what happened in Austin is nothing short of remarkable. Austin City Council routinely proposes and votes on a budget near the end of the summer, typically in August. My team and I at Texas Values monitored the budget documents closely for any proposals for an increase to the Reproductive Justice Fund. The official budget was adopted in mid-August, but the good news came on September 1, when the City of Austin officially “terminated” its out-of-state abortion fund to comply with the new law that prohibits government entities from funding abortion travel expenses[8]. No lawsuits were necessary. No pro-life group had to submit a demand letter. No Austin resident had to wait hours at City Hall to testify. After years of always resisting Texas pro-life laws, the Austin City Council finally did the right thing and stopped their illegal funding of abortion. Executive Director of Fund Texas Choice, Anna Ruppani’s quote regarding the matter revealed an incredible point. Ruppani was quoted as saying, “Abortion and practical support funds have survived HB 2, SB 8, the fall of Roe, and countless attacks, and we’re not going anywhere.”[9]  Indeed, it is disappointing and fascinating that even after Texas passed incremental laws that led to the eventual prohibition of abortion, Austin has still been able to fund abortion.

Thus, Texas legislators and prolife advocates can be pleased that the law did what it is supposed to do. Aristotle said in his work “Politics” that “it is more proper that the law should govern than any one of its citizens”. For too long, the Austin City Council created a fund that was based on individual council members’ emotions and a narrow political interest while completely ignoring that state law renders their acts ultra vires to policy that protects the life of the preborn. Finally, the law served not just as a teacher to remind the City of Austin what the law says about funding abortion, but as a governing force to stop the City of Austin from funding abortion.

Mary Elizabeth Castle, JD, is Director of Government Relations at Texas Values.

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[1] FY 2024-25 Council Amendment Tracking, Austin City Council, accessed September 9, 2024, https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=434259.

[2]Bidding and Contract Opportunities: Reproductive Justice Fund Downstream Services, San Antonio City Council, accessed September 8, 2025 https://webapp1.sanantonio.gov/BidContractOpps/Content.aspx?id=5833&page=Default#:~:text=The%20San%20Antonio%20City%20Council,through%20the%20previously%20awarded%20amount.

[3] Whole Women’s Health v. Jackson, No. 22-0033, 1, 7 (Tex. March 11, 2022).

[4] Treisman, Rachel, This Texas district attorney is one of dozens who have vowed not to prosecute abortion, KUT, June 29, 2022 https://www.npr.org/2022/06/29/1108513274/a-district-attorney-in-texas-says-he-wont-prosecute-abortion-crimes , accessed Sep.8, 2025.

[5]Texas v. City of San Antonio, No.2025C107833 (Tex.App. – Austin 2025,  no pet).https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/San%20Antonio%20Abortion%20Travel%20Order.pdf .

[6] See Press Release, Tex. Attorney Gen., Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton Sues City of San Antonio for Illegally Appropriating Taxpayer Finds to Pay for Out of State Travel(April 4, 2025)https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-city-san-antonio-illegally-appropriating-taxpayer-funds-pay-out.

[7] Texas v. City of San Antonio, No.2025C107833 (Tex.App. – Austin 2025, no pet).https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/San%20Antonio%20Abortion%20Travel%20Order.pdf .

[8] Rivera, Lauren, City of Austin ends abortion fund to comply with new state law, The Daily Texan, Sep. 1,2025  https://thedailytexan.com/2025/09/01/city-of-austin-ends-abortion-fund-to-comply-with-new-state-law/, accessed Sep. 8, 2025.

[9] Sanchez, Kelsey, Austin axes abortion travel fund amid new Texas law, KVUE, Sep. 5,2025    https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-abortion-travel-fund-ends-texas-senate-bill-33-takes-effect/269-566550fa-d7fb-4008-89a9-c7fb3ed3913b, accessed Sep.8, 2025.