Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Austin to stop taxpayer-funded abortion travel

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday filed suit against the City of Austin in an attempt to block the city’s use of $400,000 in taxpayer funds dedicated to out-of-state abortion travel expenses.

Austin implemented the “Reproductive Health Grant” as part of the city’s 2024-2025 budget, intending to support city residents in traveling for abortions.

“No city in Texas has the authority to spend taxpayer money in this manner. In this case, the City of Austin is illegally seeking to use public funding to support travel expenses for out-of-state abortions,” Paxton said in a press release on Friday. “The Texas Constitution prohibits governmental entities from doing so.”

Paxton argues that the grant violates the Texas Constitution’s gift clause, which prohibits “any county, city, town, or other political corporation or subdivision of the State to lend its credit or to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual … whatsoever.”

Abortion is prohibited in Texas at any stage during pregnancy except if the mother has a life-threatening condition and is at risk of death or continuing the pregnancy would result in “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” — a phrase that is not defined in the statute.

Guttmacher Institute , Planned Parenthood's research arm, found that more than 35,000 Texans left the Lone Star State last year to obtain an abortion outside of Texas.

More than 14,000 traveled to neighboring New Mexico for the procedure. Another almost 6,000 traveled to Kansas and 4,500 to Colorado.

Paxton last year sued several nonprofit organizations that helped pay for travel costs of obtaining abortion, also known as abortion funds. A federal judge ruled in that case in favor of the abortion funds, saying they were not violating any law.

Austin City Councilwoman and Chairwoman of the Public Health Committee Vanessa Fuentes said on X that Paxton’s newest lawsuit is “disappointing, but not surprising.”

“Ken Paxton should focus on actually helping Texans instead of suppressing communities for promoting healthcare,” Fuentes said. “Reproductive care is essential healthcare, and these actions only further undermine local efforts to uphold bodily freedom.”

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A City of Austin spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the city was aware of the state's lawsuit.

"We have successfully litigated this issue in the past and, similar to another lawsuit that raises this issue, will respond to the recent allegations through the appropriate court channels," the spokesperson said.