Planned Parenthood clinic to stay open

Planned Parenthood's $1-a-year lease of a city-owned building in East Austin can continue until 2039 despite a new state law that prohibits business dealings between local governments and the organization.

Senate Bill 22, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott last week, takes effect Sept. 1 and will ban cities from "any transaction" with an abortion provider or its affiliates — including leases, sales and donations of real estate, goods and services.

However, SB 22 is not retroactive and cannot undo a 20-year lease extension that Planned Parenthood recently signed with Austin to continue operating the health center at 1823 E. Seventh St., according to the Texas attorney general's office, which will enforce the law, and the bill's author, Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels.

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For abortion opponents, the Austin lease was Exhibit A in the argument for SB 22, a measure Campbell unveiled at a March hearing at the Capitol by calling the city's lease "a taxpayer subsidy totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions, going into the abortion industry."

"Taxpayers who oppose abortion shouldn't have to see their tax dollars support the industry," added Campbell, who was followed in the public hearing by several dozen abortion opponents, including many who portrayed the $1-a-year lease as an unfair business advantage for Planned Parenthood.

Mayor Steve Adler and other Austin officials have defended the lease, arguing that the Planned Parenthood health center does not provide abortions, instead offering subsidized health care — including contraceptives, cancer screenings and testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

In 2018, the clinic provided subsidized health care worth about $560,000 to 5,153 low-income and uninsured patients, Planned Parenthood said.

City and county leaders are in the best position to know the health care needs of their communities, Adler said during a news conference at the East Seventh Street clinic on March 18, the same day Campbell's bill received a public hearing at the Capitol.

"It is imperative that the city of Austin and other governmental entities maintain the ability to meet the health care needs of their communities, and that's what Austin is doing," Adler said.

Lease extension

Similar bills to limit local contracts with abortion providers failed during the 2017 regular and special sessions of the Legislature, including one measure that passed the Senate and a House committee.

"It got so close to passage," said John Seago, legislative director for Texas Right to Life. "That essentially was waving the flag to Planned Parenthood — hey, we're coming for you."

Last November — two months before the Legislature was to begin its 2019 session — the Austin City Council voted 10-1 to add 20 years to Planned Parenthood's lease, which still had more than two years remaining. The new contract took effect Feb. 6 and ends in 2039.

The City Council approved the first lease for the site in 1972, with lease renewals approved about every 10 years until the recent 20-year extension.

Planned Parenthood, which is responsible for all maintenance and repairs, plans to renovate the building with $1.3 million that has been raised from private donations. The clinic is temporarily closed to repair water damage to the waiting room from recent storms, Planned Parenthood official Sarah Wheat said.

Session flashpoint

The political fight over SB 22 was a flashpoint in the legislative session, prompting a House floor fight that chewed up almost eight hours of valuable time in the session's closing days.

It was eventually approved largely along party lines in both chambers, with most Democrats opposed and all Republicans in support except for Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston.

Although SB 22 was directed mainly at Planned Parenthood — a frequent target of abortion opponents because it is a leading provider of abortions and it advocates for abortion rights in the courts and in the public sphere — the law bans cities, counties, school districts and other local governments from devoting tax money or resources to any abortion provider or its affiliates.

The law also prohibits local governments from “advocacy or lobbying on behalf of the interests of an abortion provider or affiliate.”

SB 22 is expected to block Planned Parenthood programs that include short-term clinics providing contraceptives and health screenings at community colleges across Texas; booths at city- and county-sponsored health fairs that advocate for health testing; and HIV education in jails and prisons.

The Austin school district also is studying whether the law will affect a proposed sex education curriculum for middle school students that was developed by the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, argued that SB 22 was a political statement that will put women's health at risk and raise the number of unintended pregnancies, leading to more abortions. The House, however, voted down a Howard amendment that would have exempted contracts like the Austin lease.

Seago, with Texas Right to Life, said there were numerous discussions among Republicans about ways to make SB 22 stronger, including amendments that might have canceled the Austin contract. House GOP leaders, however, "put pressure on our guys" to pull down the amendments, he said.

Seago predicted future fights over the Austin lease, perhaps via lawsuits or the Legislature.

Although disappointed that SB 22 did not invalidate the Austin lease, Joe Pojman, with the Texas Alliance for Life, said the law will block other contracts statewide, "and that's a big gain for us."

"We're very pleased that this law will soon be going into effect," Pojman said.