San Antonio shuts down abortion travel fund after new state restrictions, lawsuit

San Antonio has closed its out-of-state abortion travel fund following a new Texas law prohibiting the use of public funds to cover abortions and a state lawsuit challenging the city’s fund.

City Council members last year approved $100,000 to the Reproductive Justice Fund to support abortion-related travel, prompting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to file a lawsuit over allegations that the city is “transparently trying to undermine and subvert Texas law and public policy.”

Paxton announced his victory in the lawsuit on Friday after the case was dismissed without reaching a conclusion for either side.

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“Texas respects the sanctity of unborn life, and I will always do everything in my power to prevent extremists from gaming the system to kill innocent children,” Paxton said in a statement. “It is illegal for cities to fund abortion tourism with taxpayer dollars. San Antonio’s illegal attempt to cover travel and other expenses for out-of-state abortions has now been officially defeated.”

But San Antonio’s city attorney argued that the city did nothing wrong and pushed back on Paxton’s claim that the state won the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit was initiated and then abandoned by the State of Texas,” the San Antonio City Attorney’s Office said in a statement to the Texas Tribune. “In other words, the city did not drop any claims; rather, the State of Texas, through the Texas Attorney General’s Office, dropped its claims.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he will continue to oppose the use of public funds for abortion-related travel. (Justin Lin/Reuters)

Paxton’s lawsuit argued that the travel trust violates the gift clause of the Texas Constitution. The state’s 15th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Paxton and granted a temporary injunction in June to prevent the city from disbursing the money while the case moves forward.

Gov. Greg Abbott in August signed Senate Bill 33, which prohibits the use of public funds to fund “logistical support” for abortion. The law also allows Texans to file a civil lawsuit if they believe the city violated the law.

“The City believed that the law, prior to the passage of SB 33, allowed funds to be used for out-of-state travel for publicly discussed abortions,” the City Attorney’s Office said in its statement. “After SB 33 became law and no longer permitted these uses, the City did not proceed with procurement for those specific uses – consistent with its intent all along that it would follow the law.”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in August barring cities from using public funds to help cover travel or other abortion-related costs. (Antranik Tavityan/Reuters)

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The Reproductive Justice Fund remains broader in scope, but is limited to non-abortion services such as home pregnancy tests, emergency contraception, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

The city of Austin also closed the abortion travel fund after the law was signed. Austin allocated $400,000 to its Reproductive Healthcare Logistics Fund in 2024 to help women travel to other states to have abortions with funding for travel, food and lodging.