Vowing to fight back against Texas Republicans ahead of a statewide abortion ban, the Austin City Council has asked the city’s Police Department to ignore the law by refusing to investigate any medical provider who terminates a pregnancy.
Additionally, the council amended a city ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health action and asked the city manager to launch a public education program on long-term birth control, including vasectomies for men. They also asked the city manager to evaluate benefits to city employees seeking reproductive health care that is no longer lawful in Texas.
“We are sending the message we will continue to fight for reproductive freedom,” Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.
The Thursday vote — in a special called meeting that brought council members back a week early from their summer council meeting break — follows last month’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which had allowed a nationwide protection for abortion and comes days before a near-total abortion ban takes effect in Texas.
The City Council’s initiative is known as the GRACE Act — Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone. It was first proposed weeks ago by Council Member Chito Vela.
This action will play well with Austin Democrats but also is likely to escalate an ongoing feud between the City Council and Texas Republican leaders, political opponents who have long quarreled over everything from policing to tent encampments to grocery bags. More times than not, the state has come out on the winning side, often crafting a statewide law to cancel an action by Austin.
But if that happens, Austin could have allies in other Texas cities. Denton passed a similar measure aimed at discouraging prosecutions related to abortions, and four other cities — San Antonio, Waco, Dallas and Grand Prairie — are in various stages of discussion. El Paso has rejected it.
In Austin, there is an argument to be made that it was unnecessary to ask police not to investigate abortions, because Travis County District Attorney José Garza, an elected Democrat who has discretion over which cases to pursue, has previously said his office will not prosecute abortions.
Flanked at City Hall by several Texas House Democrats, several City Council members said they are prepared to use any method available to them to protect a woman’s ability to get an abortion. The same holds true, they said, for laws that protect same-sex couples and transgender people.
“I never thought we’d be in this place,” Council Member Ann Kitchen said.
Texas House Democrats in attendance were Sheryl Cole, Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico and Celia Israel, as well as Lulu Flores, the Democratic nominee in House District 51.
“We are awoke, our claws are out, and we’re ready to fight,” said Israel, who is leaving her seat to run for Austin mayor in November.
More:Could abortion ban tarnish Texas’ business-friendly image?
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office did not respond to a message left seeking comment.
The Police Department said it is reviewing the council’s decision: “We are working through the resolution and we’ll present next time when we come back to council.”
Thursday’s council vote on the abortion-related resolution is more of a recommendation than a directive, as the Police Department has no legal obligation to accept orders from the council.
All four items passed 10-0, but with a notable absence. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, the council’s most conservative member, said she underwent surgery Thursday and that the procedure had been scheduled before the meeting. While voting for these measures was a no-brainer for left-leaning council members, the same would not have been true for Kelly, who has Republican supporters in her Northwest Austin district who are more likely to oppose abortion rights than the average Austin resident.
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“Austin City Council has asked the city’s Police Department to ignore the law”
This is the character of disgraceful, self-serving, treasonous Democrats who do not obey the laws that they don’t like or parts of the U.S. Constitution that they don’t like. These are NOT the type of people that we want to have ANY authority over anything!
WE the PEOPLE need to remove ALL of these disgraceful, self-serving, treasonous Democrats from office everywhere!!
Exactly what human right gives a woman the right to kill her unborn baby?
What about the Baby’s human rights?
A woman’s body ends at the end of the baby’s umbilical cord and the baby’s body begins.
It is NOT YOUR BODY THAT YOU ARE KILLING, it is the baby’s body!!
AND IF these council members are WILLFULLY PUSHING THE COPS TO ignore federal and STATE LAWS, then they show themselves to be OATH BREAKERS< and need to be behind bars.. AND SOON.
It’s funny, I live in a rural area in Pennsylvania and as soon as I see or hear something about Austin, Texas, I know it is about Wokism, and every other thing not-Texas. With the explosion of Californians to Texas, I fear those fleeing California, will bring their liberal, destructive baggage with them. Maybe Texas and Florida can withhold voting rights until newbies can pass a basic American citizenship test.
Something like that, is what i have been asking for, for years. SOME WAY TO stop the liberal ROT coming out of Ca, NY and the like, and infesting RED STATES.
It will happen, a whole lot sooner than later. The biggest cities in Texas are pretty dark purple now. Austardia is a disgrace, as is Houston, Dallas, and SA, to this great State.
noparty:
Pennsylvania is predominantly filled with the with those who support the treasonous Woke Democrat Party.
To fully advance the Lying, Treasonous, Demonic, Socialist Democrat Party’s destructive beliefs and agendas is to divide our citizens with hate and promote – racism, open borders, radical feminism, abortion-on-demand, the LGBTQ lifestyle, unfettered sexual identity, transgender, same sex marriage, child indoctrination into sexual confusion and perversions, the pagan Liberal left Democrats must do away with GOD, our Constitution, common sense, morality, Christian values and free religious exercise altogether.
Under the Disguise of “anti-discrimination.”
At what point did Liberals Democrats make following the 10 Commandments politically incorrect?
I live in Florida and I do not understand or want to be around immoral, woke, hateful, snowflake Democrats.
Bigotry is not necessarily always a bad thing. One need not tolerate or accept every belief or action of another.
Maybe the Texas Republicans can ignore the laws about equal protection under the law and protect the innocent and jail the guilty, now that’s a new concept for woke sleep walking brain deads. How about people just start ignoring laws about racial discimination and fire anybody of a different color, gender or race of the busines owners. What these people propose is a two edged sword that cuts both ways, which if used to castrate the women impregnators might just slice and dice the pregos out of trouble and America back to peace on earth. Maybe we should all ignore the laws that prevent people from running over protesters that get in the way of our cars and ability to get to work on time. Those too weak, and socially dependent to protect themselves and have to rely on laws will always lose in the end when disobeying is the new social construct that deconstructs the weak people’s ability to survive when they piss off the strong. and successful who can think more than 5 seconds past the offer of the immediate gratification that results in a lifetime of guilt and self-recrimination. Not too smart a proposal by those emotionally driven to act before they think the whole thing through, who define just what unwanted impregnators do and are.
Typical lefties: ‘we’ll obey laws we feel like obeying. And if we want to sacrifice our babies to the demon god Molech, no one is going to stop us!’
Seems to me Governor Abbott could withhold state funding for the city of Austin.
BETTER YET< send in the Texas rangers, to ARREST ALL THESE traitors to their oaths of office.