We shouldn’t be surprised to see the Austin City Council endorsing radical, anti-Life policies. In recent years, the city council has attempted to bully pregnancy resource centers. This was rightfully recognized as illegal discrimination for which the council had to pay 480 thousand dollars. Austin City Council also voted to pay lobbyists for Planned Parenthood. That means that this legislative session Austin’s lobbying position at the capitol is to “support any legislation that would maintain or expand funding for Planned Parenthood” and “oppose any legislation that would reduce funding for Planned Parenthood.”
The most recent example of the Austin City Council’s anti-Life bias and overreaching resolutions came this week, when council members prepared to vote on a pro-Roe v. Wade resolution. Agenda Item 45 of the Austin City Council Agenda reads:
Be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Austin: City Council recognizes the 44th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade; recognizes a woman’s right to make the decision to access safe, affordable reproductive health care services, which may include decisions related to abortion as an essential component of health care; affirms that safe and legal abortions should be affordable and accessible for all who seek it[sic]; and supports the work of health care providers in Austin and Travis County facing threats and violence for providing safe and legal access to reproductive health care services, including abortion care.
In this resolution, the City Council attempts to officially recognize the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. This brazen exercise in ideological tyranny by the City Council flies in the face of the many Pro-Life citizens of Austin and Travis County. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is viewed by many citizens, quite possibly the majority, as far from a time for celebration. The sad day marks the beginning of unrestricted abortion in our nation, which has led to the killing of more than 59 million preborn babies.
Further to their discredit, the Austin City Council supports their resolution with the anti-Life myth that “illegal abortion before 1973 caused the death of hundreds of women annually and serious injury to thousands more, which caused great anguish to families and the fabric of U.S. society.” This argument has been soundly debunked many times, but anti-Life activists still cling to the narrative of “back-alley abortions.” Evidence and testimony show that the numbers used were fabricated, and the disturbing truth is that legal abortion is far from “safe.”
Despite the Austin City Council’s unwavering fealty to Planned Parenthood and abortion, the truth is that federally qualified health centers vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood affiliates in Travis County and across the state. Women deserve real health care, not the predatory tactics of the abortion industry, and the City Council betrays women by unflinching support of big abortion.
On behalf of the Pro-Life citizens of Austin and across the state and on behalf of the preborn, Texas Right to Life is hard at work at the capital in support of Pro-Life policies this legislative session. The lies and agenda of the anti-Life lobby as demonstrated in the Austin City Council’s latest pro-Roe v. Wade resolution demonstrate the necessity of strong Pro-Life policies at all levels of government.