Aiding and abetting

The Austin City Council on Aug. 29 passed a resolution declaring “reproductive rights are human rights” days after a pro-life resident sued the city for funding abortion-related travel expenses for city residents. Filed by former council member Don Zimmerman, the lawsuit in Texas’ fourth-largest city shows how state and local governments continue to clash over abortion, even in conservative strongholds like Texas.

Austin’s budget, approved in mid-August, earmarked $400,000 for the city’s Reproductive Health Grant to help pay for gasoline, plane tickets, food, or childcare for women who travel out of the state for abortions.

Zimmerman originally sued Austin in 2019 after the council allocated $150,000 to help residents pay for abortion travel. In later years, the grant only funded education and outreach about contraception and “reproductive health care.” But when the city in August renewed its funding of abortion-related travel expenses, Zimmerman filed an amended petition in Travis County District Court.

The lawsuit argues in part that this year’s budget item pits the city against state law prohibiting anyone from helping a woman procure an abortion. It claims the prohibition includes abortions that take place outside of the state, as long as part of the “procurement” happened inside of Texas. Austin’s policy also violates a provision of the Texas Constitution that prevents cities like Austin from passing ordinances inconsistent with state laws, according to the lawsuit.

Zimmerman served on the council from 2015 to 2017 and later unsuccessfully ran for state House and Senate as a Republican. Because of his Christian conviction that abortion is “an act akin to murder,” the lawsuit says, Zimmerman will suffer injury if the court does not prevent the city from funding abortion travel.

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Feds on Title X: No pro-lifers allowed

Thanks to its pro-life policies, Tennessee will no longer receive Title X family planning funding. A panel of judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 26 that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acted within its authority when it kicked Tennessee out of the federal grant program.

Under a 2021 HHS rule, states participating in Title X must counsel women regarding abortions and provide referrals for the procedure. But after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, Tennessee’s laws protecting babies from abortion throughout pregnancy took effect, and the state informed HHS it would only provide counsel and referrals for family planning options legal in the state.

As a result, HHS ultimately deemed Tennessee not in compliance with the 2021 rule and discontinued its funding. Tennessee sued in 2023, claiming it stood to lose “some $30 million over the next five years” without the Title X funding. According to reports, HHS redirected the grant money to Planned Parenthood. —L.S.