On Tuesday, in a 9-2 vote, the San Antonio City Council passed a resolution supporting abortion access in the city.
Like the GRACE act passed in Austin on July 21, the resolution recommends stopping the use of city funds to prosecute, investigate, collect and share information with government officials to pursue abortion cases.
Notably, the resolution doesn’t decriminalize or legalize abortion, and lacks the language of Austin’s resolution, which asked law enforcement to make abortion investigations their “lowest priority” despite many residents’ requests to be included.
Nevertheless, San Antonio residents are celebrating the victory of supporting abortion access in their city.
“I want to open by saying that abortion is and will never stop being healthcare,” Councilmember Teri Castillo, author of the resolution, said in a tweet. “Everyone deserves access to a safe abortion and other reproductive healthcare.”
In a joint statement with other Texas district attorneys, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales vowed not to prosecute or criminalize personal healthcare decisions earlier this year.
“Using the criminal legal system and an interpretation of murder that has no grounding in the law to punish women – and leveraging confidential medical information and eroding vitally important medical provider/patient relationships in doing so – is beyond the pale and will have devastating consequences,” the DA’s said in a statement.
This marks San Antonio as one of the major cities in the state to pass a resolution on abortion access after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and issued its finalized judgment last month. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a statement and marked August 25 as the day the total abortion ban is set to take effect in Texas.
Kennedy is a recent graduate of the University of St.Thomas in Houston where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Celt Independent. Kennedy brings her experience of writing about social justice issues to the Texas Signal where she serves as our Political Reporter. She does everything from covering crime beats, Texas politics, and community activism. Kennedy is a passionate reporter, avid reader, coffee enthusiast, and loves to travel.
