Less than a year after it was sued by anti-abortion groups, the City of San Antonio revealed its Reproductive Justice Fund probably won’t help women access abortion care after all.

A full budget year after they approved it, the San Antonio City Council is poised to discuss what the city’s controversial Reproductive Justice Fund will cover.

Some San Antonio City Council members say a city fund that, in part, could help cover the travel costs for women seeking legal, out-of-state abortions isn’t being rolled out quickly enough.

Most of the San Antonio City Council appears open to using at least part of the $500,000 Reproductive Justice Fund to help cover the costs of women traveling out of state to access legal abortions.

Anti-abortion groups sued the city in October, shortly after the city council created the new $500,000 Reproductive Justice Fund. The city has not determined how the money will be used, but groups like the San Antonio Family Association believe it’s meant to help women access legal, out-of-state abortions by covering their travel costs.

A pair of anti-abortion groups have sued the City of San Antonio over its newly created, still undefined “Reproductive Justice Fund,” which they worry could help women access out-of-state abortions.

The city council passed the $3.7 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2024 Thursday morning in a 10-0-1 vote. It will take effect Oct. 1 at the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year.

As the San Antonio City Council spent a second day debating last-minute tweaks to the city budget, a proposal that could help fund trips to out-of-state abortion clinics continued to be a point of contention.

Expanding a popular mental health team, creating a fund to help cover travel to out-of-state abortion clinics, and giving more money for Animal Care Services were among the most high-profile changes council members discussed making to the budget - largely favorably.

A coalition of groups supporting abortion rights has asked the City of San Antonio to set up a new $500,000 “Reproductive Justice Fund."