In the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas has implemented some of the most barbaric and inhumane anti-abortion laws in the world, decimating access to critical health care and forcing Texans into dangerous and life-threatening circumstances.
Though 78% of Texans support the right to abortion, public support is being overshadowed by bad-faith actors who would instead spout vague platitudes like “protecting the unborn” while ignoring — or, more sinisterly, actively defunding —initiatives meant to provide necessary and life-saving medical and social services. Earlier this month, the Texas Supreme Court intervened to stop 31-year-old Kate Cox from terminating her pregnancy, a procedure needed to protect her health and future fertility, despite a federal district judge ruling that neither Cox nor her husband or doctor should be criminally or civilly penalized for obtaining an abortion. Cox was forced to flee Texas to have an abortion.
But while Texans stand in the crosshairs of malicious legislation and desecration of basic human rights, San Antonio has made progressive strides by recognizing the importance of reproductive justice, a human rights framework that asserts that people have the right to determine whether or not to have a child and the right to parent children in safe, healthy environments irrespective of age, gender identity, sexuality, immigration status, disability or income level. It also recognizes that a person’s ability to determine what happens to their body is directly related to what is happening in their community.
At the start of 2023, local advocacy groups led an initiative to amend the City Charter of San Antonio to adopt a justice policy that included comprehensive reforms such as preventing the criminalization of abortion, banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants and encouraging citations instead of arrests for low-level, nonviolent offenses. Advocates gathered over 35,000 petition signatures, exceeding the requirement of 20,000 signatures to place the proposition on the ballot. Though the SA Justice Charter was rejected by voters in May, the initiative set a precedent for ongoing advocacy around social justice initiatives by encouraging residents to envision what safe and just solutions could look like in San Antonio despite a broken democracy in Texas.
In August, a coalition of reproductive justice-focused organizations in San Antonio, including Sueños Sin Fronteras, Jane’s Due Process, Lilith Fund and AVOW Texas, spearheaded an initiative advocating for the City of San Antonio to allocate $500,000 of its $3.7 billion 2024 fiscal year budget to support the creation of the city’s first Reproductive Justice Fund. Organizers from the coalition proposed that the fund would create access points to resources such as pregnancy tests, community birth workers, emergency contraception, menstruation products and testing for sexually transmitted infections, as well as supporting people traveling out of state for an abortion. The fund also meets an urgent need in the community and ensures that people do not have to subject themselves to deceptive and coercive practices from anti-abortion centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers.
The Reproductive Justice Fund exemplifies the power San Antonio has to push back oppressive state policies and advocate community-based solutions rooted in their residents’ self-determination.
Though advocates and city leaders have been clear that none of the funds would directly pay for abortion procedures and have assured that funds would be distributed in accordance with state and federal laws, in the weeks following the victorious City Council vote, anti-abortion groups filed a lawsuit in Bexar County in opposition to the Reproductive Justice Fund, alleging that it would give taxpayers’ dollars to “criminal organizations that violate the state’s abortion laws” by funding out-of-state travel for abortions.
Anti-abortion groups are working to punish the reproductive justice organizations that advocated for the fund by barring them from receiving any portion of the allocation. City Council has yet to meet to discuss the specifics of the fund, but ongoing promotion of the initiative and education about its importance is essential to defending access in the face of increasing opposition, intimidation tactics and misinformation.
As we enter 2024, we must remain undeterred by the fear and anxiety exacerbated by the calculated deterioration of our state’s democracy. Inspired by the generations of ancestors that preceded us and the deep history of resistance in San Antonio, we continue to advocate for solutions rooted in community power and community needs to ensure reproductive justice for all. True progress in Texas will happen when our bodily autonomy and dignity are not decided for us, a future where sexual and reproductive health education, health care, child care and economic opportunities are accessible for all Texans without fear of reprisal.
While things may appear grim in our state, it is vital to recognize the inherent fortitude we have as Texans, as many of us have survived and prevailed over centuries of colonization, systemic marginalization and racism.
We look to courageous social justice organizers like Emma Tenayuca, who risked her life to ensure social justice and labor rights for her community. We look to Buckle Bunnies Fund, whose advocates risk their lives daily to ensure that residents in San Antonio are safe, supported and free of shame when accessing life-saving reproductive health resources and care. We look to advocates from San Antonio for Justice in Palestine who fight for reproductive justice through their demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, recognizing that the Palestinian people deserve to live and raise their families in safe environments free from violence and genocide. We look to Sueños Sin Fronteras, whose team members build supportive and sustainable practices that center the pregnant and birthing immigrant women’s autonomy, healing and joy.
Our advocacy efforts in the community are interconnected and collectively we can reclaim Texas and ensure it is a place where reproductive justice is not just a vision but a lived reality for all.
