On Friday, March 17, 2023, the Texas Supreme Court released an order on the writ of mandamus filed by Texas Alliance for Life in response to an illegal ballot initiative placed on the May 6 ballot in San Antonio seeking to decriminalize abortion in the City of San Antonio, among other initiatives. On a 6-3 vote, the Court ordered the Proposition A election to be held on the May 6 ballot. Justice Jane Bland wrote the majority’s opinion. Justice Evan Young, joined by Justices John Devine and Jimmy Blacklock, wrote the dissenting opinion.
In the petition for a writ of mandamus and a subsequent brief, Texas Alliance for Life and San Antonio voter Maria Teresa Ramirez Morris raised three points on how Proposition A violates state law and its own city charter measures intended to protect voters:
- The initiative to decriminalize abortion by requiring police and other staff to ignore state laws protecting unborn babies’ lives and women’s health, fertility, and safety from illegal and back-alley abortions should be separate from the other five propositions,
- The ballot language on the abortion issue is misleading and incomplete, and
- The San Antonio City Council failed to vote on the charter amendment in time to add Prop A to the May 6 ballot.
“We are tremendously disappointed in the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to allow the San Antonio Proposition A charter amendment to remain on the May 6 ballot, despite obvious violations of state law,” said Texas Alliance for Life Communications Director Amy O’Donnell. “We raised significant reasons in our briefs on how Prop A violates voter’s rights.”
“This precedent invites municipalities to disregard well-established election laws regarding charter amendments — whether they pertain to protections for unborn babies or other issues — an unintended but foreseeable consequence,” O’Donnell added.
“We now focus our efforts on defeating this terrible proposition at the polls by mobilizing voters, especially the pro-life, pro-family citizens in San Antonio, who we believe will be shocked to learn what Prop A means — unrestricted illegal abortions throughout pregnancy up to birth, including secret abortions performed on teens by pimps and sex traffickers, and to cover acts of rape or incest.”