Why anti-abortion opponents could sink San Antonio’s police reform amendment | San Antonio Express News

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By: Molly Smith

Texas Alliance for Life immediately took the matter to the Texas Supreme Court. The group has a powerful ally in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is urging the court to side with them.

It’s a large departure from the scrutiny given to marijuana decriminalization measures passed in other Texas cities, none of which are anywhere close to landing in front of a state court. These measures have proved popular, passing by as much as 85 percent.

“On the abortion question, this is a direct frontal assault to a primary political objective that Republicans have laid out,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “It is as bold a political strategy to confront a Republican, conservative policy on abortion as we’ve seen.”

On ExpressNews.com: Anti-abortion group wants to weed out this measure in San Antonio’s Justice Charter amendment

The Justice Charter, also known as Proposition A, is the first citizen-led ballot measure in Texas to attempt to safeguard abortion providers since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion protections last summer. It will be a test of the lengths the state’s powerful anti-abortion movement — and possibly Republican lawmakers — will go to prevent cities from making their own rules about abortion.

Pro-Life Group Files Petition to Stop San Antonio’s ‘Justice Policy’ Charter Amendment Election | THE TEXAN

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By: KIM ROBERTS

The Texas Local Government Code provides, “An amendment may not contain more than one subject.”

In its petition, Texas Alliance for Life acknowledges that courts have allowed cities to hold elections on proposals that make multiple amendments to a city charter, but note that all were dealing with a single subject.

However, in this case, the subject matters vary from marijuana possession to abortion crimes so that residents who may agree with one issue could disagree on another, but would be forced to cast only one vote for or against the entire proposal.

In its reply brief, the city made a procedural argument that the petition should have first been presented to an appellate court before coming to the Texas Supreme Court.

Regarding multiple subjects in the charter amendment, the city argued that it “plausibly read the proposed ‘Justice Policy’ charter amendment language as relating to one subject.”

It also asserted that petitioners Texas Alliance for Life and Morris are premature in their challenge, and instead should challenge the amendment after the election should it be approved by voters.

Proposed police reforms face legal challenge at Texas Supreme Court | SAN ANOTNIO Report

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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.

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“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.

Abortion debate ramps up in states as Congress deadlocks | CBS NEWS

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By: BY JULIE ROVNER

Those measures could get lost in the shuffle of the state’s frantic 140-day, every-other-year session, if legislative leaders don’t consider them a priority. The state’s trigger law banning almost all abortions that went into effect last year “appears to be working very well,” said Joe Pojman, founder and executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group. In August 2022, three abortions were documented in the state, down from more 5,700 reported during the same month a year earlier, according to the most recent state data.

The top state House Republican said his priority is boosting support for new moms, for example, by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months.

It’s “an opportunity for the Texas House to focus more than ever on supporting mothers and children,” said Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Leaked draft leaves both sides awaiting new U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade | CBS AUSTIN

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By: Fred Cantu

Pro-life groups saw it as the end of the line for a law they believe protected unborn children since 1854. Joe Pojman with Texas Alliance for Life adds, “It made abortion legal in Texas and in all the other states, legal throughout the entire 9 months of pregnancy.”
But others saw the high court’s ruling as a new beginning for women.

Dyana Limon-Mercado with Planned Parenthood Texas Votes explains, “When you think about the ways certain communities’ rights to their own bodies, to their own labor, to their own futures have been restricted over the history of America, the decision around Roe v. Wade was fundamental to guaranteeing that right, particularly to women who become pregnant.”

In Texas, Where Abortion Rights Began, GOP Builds New Barriers | PEW

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By: David Montgomery

Joe Pojman, a former aerospace engineer who is now executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, said the law “would completely protect unborn children from abortion beginning at conception.

“That would be the fulfillment of our dreams and goals for the last 50 years.”

But Cain and Capriglione, along with anti-abortion leaders like Pojman, emphatically dismiss the possibility of prosecuting women who get abortions, saying the criminal offenses should apply only to doctors and others who perform the procedure.

Texas’ pre-Roe abortion statute, which originated in 1854, “never even contemplated making … any penalties for the woman who has the abortion,” Capriglione said, “and my bill doesn’t either.”