Martin Mawyer
The Texas city of Austin, which is famous for its groundbreaking pro-homosexual policies, can now claim to be the “first in the nation” on another liberal activist issue: abortion.
The city council voted last Tuesday to give away $150,000 of its 2020 taxpayer budget to cover the transportation, lodging and child care for women seeking abortion.
A lawsuit was immediately filed the next day by former councilmember Don Zimmerman, who argued that the city is violating state law which makes it illegal to force tax payers to subsidize abortions.
“The basic idea here is to force tax payer to subsidies abortions. It’s not only terrible policy, it’s actually illegal,” Zimmerman told FOX7.
Earlier this year, Texas passed Senate Bill 22 barring cities from funding abortion providers.
Though the city of Austin isn’t directly paying for the abortion procedure, some think the spirit of the law is being violated.
John Seago, legislative director for the pro-life group Texas Right to Life, told CNN, “The spirit of the law is that we’re not going to spend taxpayer dollars to support the abortion industry.”
Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell, who authored SB 22 that prohibits the state from funding abortion providers, agreed.
“It defiantly violates the spirit of Senate Bill 22, if not an outright violations against the law,” Campbell said in a statement.
Texas Representative Briscoe Cain is so angry at the city that he wants to bring Austin under state control.
Cain wrote on Twitter that it was “past time” that the Texas legislature “abolish the City of Austin and make it a capital district like that of D.C.”
The amendment allowing Austin to transport women to abortion clinics was authored by Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, who admitted that she is probably defying state law.
“I don’t make decisions based on what the legislature wants, I make decisions based on what our community needs,” Garza told the Texas Tribune.
