AUSTIN (KXAN) — At least three Texas-based abortion funding groups announced their decisions to resume funding out-of-state abortions for Texans, including travel expenses, while the procedure remains illegal in the state.
The decisions came after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled in February that Texas cannot enforce its ban on out-of-state abortions and that abortion funds are likely safe from prosecution, according to The Texas Tribune. This ruling comes after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade with its 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, returning abortion legality to states to decide.
Now, over the last two weeks, abortion funds such as the Lilith Fund, Texas Equal Access Fund and Fund Texas Choice announced they will resume their funding for Texans to access abortion care.
“We’re funding abortion care for Texans again, in states where abortion is legal!” read a post on Lilith Fund’s Facebook page, “As soon as we got the news, we started working on building the infrastructure to restart our abortion funding program.”
The group also said in its post that it had pivoted its funding to “non-abortion reproductive healthcare,” such as contraceptives. Its return to abortion access will not stop that contraceptives work, the post stated.
Texas Equal Access Fund announced their return in a March 24 post, as well as a promise to fund every request through June 24, which is the anniversary of the Dobbs ruling.
“It’s not often we get to share joyous and exciting news, so please enjoy this feeling with us,” the group posted on Twitter.
Tracking the Coronavirus
Austin Weather
Trending Stories
Don’t Miss
Latest weather conditions from the KXAN First Warning Weather team