Texas Supreme Court Orders Lower Court To Reconsider Lawsuit Challenging City Ordinance Providing Taxpayer Funding for Abortion-Related Services in Light of the Dobbs Decision Overruling Roe v. Wade

The Texas Supreme Court recently ordered a lower appellate court to reconsider its ruling upholding a City of Austin ordinance that allocated taxpayer funds to organizations that provide logistical support for women who seek abortions. Taxpayer money was used to cover expenses like transportation to abortion centers and child care.

As we explained here, Mr. Zimmerman, a resident of Austin, challenged the ordinance claiming that it violated Texas’ abortion statutes. Although those statutes had been held unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade, they are still on the books. The Texas legislature refused to repeal them. Mr. Zimmerman argued Texas’ abortion statutes barred the City of Austin’s attempt to fund abortion support services.  Both the trial court and a Texas court of appeals ruled, however, that Mr. Zimmerman’s suit must be dismissed because Roe v. Wade nullified every application of Texas’ abortion statutes.

What the lower courts ignored, however, was that while Roe did mean that Texas abortion provisions could not be enforced against a woman seeking an abortion, they did not mean that Texas could not forbid the use of taxpayer money to pay for abortion or abortion support services.

Joined by six other pro-life groups, the ACLJ filed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court, arguing that the Texas Supreme Court should hold that “Texas’[] abortion statutes remain enforceable against the City of Austin’s proposed funding for entities providing support to women seeking abortions, because it is undisputed that the enforcement of those statutes against these expenditures of taxpayer money will not violate anyone’s constitutional rights.”

The Texas Supreme Court recognized that the Dobbs decision overruling Roe v. Wade changed everything. The Court ordered the court of appeals to reconsider Mr. Zimmerman’s claims in light of Dobbs.

With your ongoing support, we will continue the fight against taxpayer subsidization of abortionists, as well as those who provide abortion-related support services.