AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday announced he has sued the City of Austin over its plan to implement the Reproductive Justice Fund.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of Austin over the Reproductive Justice Fund

  • The program sets aside money for women seeking out-of-state abortions. Texas bans abortion in nearly all instances 

  • The money is intended to help abortion seekers cover travel expenses including airfare, hotel stays and food 

  • Paxton's lawsuit claims the appropriation violates state law 

It’s a provision in Austin’s 2024-25 budget that sets aside money for women seeking abortions out of state. Texas has a near-total ban on the procedure.

About $400,000 has been approved for the fund, and it can go toward expenses including airfare, food and hotel stays.

According to a news release announcing Paxton’s lawsuit, the appropriation violates the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clause, “which stipulates that the Legislature has ‘no power to authorize 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.’”

“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 wrote in the release. “The Texas Constitution prohibits governmental entities from doing so.”

This is the second lawsuit against the Reproductive Justice Fund. According to KUT, former Austin City Council member Don Zimmerman sued in late August, claiming, like Paxton, that such an appropriation violates state law.

Austin Councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes, who spearheaded the establishment of the fund, responded to Paxton’s lawsuit Friday morning in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Ken Paxton should focus on actually helping Texans instead of suppressing communities for promoting healthcare. Reproductive care is essential healthcare, and these actions only further undermine local efforts to uphold bodily freedom. It’s disappointing, but not surprising,” Fuentes wrote.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson released the following statement: 

"Ken Paxton is once again exploiting the great power of his office to attack and undermine the fundamental rights of women and try to score a few political points in the process.

"I'm proud the Austin City Council is supporting Austin women as they make their own decisions about their body, their family, their health, their happiness, and their quality of life. I stood up and fought for reproductive rights throughout my time in office, including in the Texas Senate, and I will not back down in City Hall.

"Texas women deserve better than to have their state and Ken Paxton attacking their fundamental freedoms."