SAN ANTONIO – District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte voiced strong opposition to efforts by several San Antonio City Council members to allocate city funds toward travel costs for abortion seekers.
Whyte called the proposal “inappropriate” and argued that using money from the city’s general fund for such purposes is not in San Antonio’s best interest.
“Such actions prioritize partisan political agendas over the core municipal services our citizens rely upon and expect,” he stated.
The council passed nearly $50,000 worth of contracts for the controversial Reproductive Justice Fund on Nov. 21. However, abortion travel costs were not part of the final package the council on.
Abortion travel costs were included as part of the city’s request for proposals, but city staff said only two of the ten applicants included abortion travel or navigation as part of their proposals. Neither made the final cut in the evaluation process.
Last week, five city council members asked Mayor Ron Nirenberg for an additional $100,000 for “downstream” funding — the section of the Reproductive Justice Fund request for proposal that included travel costs.
Nirenberg replied and asked the five city council members to submit their proposal as a Council Consideration Request through the regular process.
Whyte believes if the city council were to fund abortion travel expenses, it would likely trigger lawsuits that would burden city resources and set San Antonio behind financially.
“I strongly urge my colleagues to reconsider their request and redirect their focus to the fundamental municipal priorities identified by our community in the City of San Antonio’s 2024 Community Satisfaction & Budget Priority Survey, which included streets and sidewalks, police, homeless outreach, and encampment cleanups,” Whyte said.
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