By: Iris Dimmick and Andrea Drusch

Whyte, Bexar County Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody, and a staff member from U.S. Congressman Tony Gonzales’ office stood with representatives from Texas Alliance for Life after the meeting ended to voice their opposition.

Whyte, who abstained on last year’s city budget vote because of the Reproductive Justice Fund, took a firm stand during the city council discussion.

“Depending on the comments of my fellow council members, we have an opportunity to avoid what I believe would be a really dark, dark day in the history of the city of San Antonio later this fall,” he said. “And that would be if we vote to approve any contract that uses public dollars to promote abortion services.”

In a statement signed by the abortion funds Sueños Sin Fronteras, Buckle Bunnies Fund, Lilith Fund, AVOW, and Jane’s Due Process, they called on the city council to move quickly to get funding out the door to support reproductive health.

By: Andrea Drusch

In an effort to highlight issues where he agrees with local Republicans, Gonzales joined the anti-abortion group Alliance for Life at Thursday’s press conference to voice opposition to proposed police reforms expected to appear on San Antonio’s municipal election ballot in May.

“Prop A is going down in flames — it is going to lose,” Gonzales said at the press conference. “… We have an army of conservative warriors that are ready to push back.”

Speaking to reporters after the press conference, Gonzales downplayed the threat of the censure.

“Not everybody likes me. … It’s the way life is,” Gonzales said. “You can’t allow these people that are detractors to prevent you from doing what you want to do, what you need to do, to represent the district, but you do have to take it seriously.”

“Something like this is an opportunity to unite us,” he said, gesturing to the people gathered in opposition of the police reforms charter amendment.

By: Iris Dimmick

Meanwhile, the proposed charter amendment is facing a legal challenge at the Texas Supreme Court from the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life Inc.

The group has requested that the city reject the proposed ballot language and instead require a vote on each provision individually. The petition is pending, but the court issued an order Thursday morning that requires both parties to provide a status report to the court next week outlining the ballot language.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office urged the court to side with opponents. Solicitor General Judd Stone wrote Wednesday in a letter to the court that the Justice Charter “flagrantly violates” a state law prohibiting multi-subject charter amendments.

Stone urged the court to grant a petition filed by the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life Inc. (TAL) requesting that the city reject the proposed ballot language, and instead require a vote on each provision individually.
“While the substance of this proposed charter amendment conflicts with multiple substantive provisions of state law, this mandamus proceeding concerns a procedural problem: the charter amendment plainly violates Texas law’s longstanding prohibition on municipal charter amendments that ‘contain more than one subject,’” Stone wrote.

By: Andrea Drusch

On Friday the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life Inc. (TAL) filed a petition requesting that the city reject the proposed ballot language, which it says violates a state law prohibiting multi-subject charter amendments, and require each issue to be listed and voted on separately.

Sponsors help underwrite our nonprofit journalism. Sponsor today.
2023 Book Festical_300x250
“Respondents have no discretion to force voters to approve or reject, all or nothing, charter provisions dealing with issues as varied as theft, graffiti, or prohibiting cooperation with state agencies regulating abortion providers,” wrote attorney Eric Opiela, a former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas.

City Council is expected to order that the ballot proposition appear on the May 6 ballot Thursday, a formality they don’t get to exercise judgment over. The deadline for setting the May ballot is Friday.