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St. Petersburg City Council votes against paying for abortion travel

After hours of debate, the council voted 6-2 against giving $50,000 to the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund.
 
Call Heath, a student at St. Petersburg High School, attends an abortion rights rally organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Tampa Bay along Central Avenue in 2022.
Call Heath, a student at St. Petersburg High School, attends an abortion rights rally organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Tampa Bay along Central Avenue in 2022. [ MARTHA ASENCIO-RHINE | Times ]
Published April 6, 2023|Updated April 6, 2023

ST. PETERSBURG — Under the threat of state law, promised legal battles and vows to block funding, the City Council backed down from a proposal to pay for residents’ out-of-state abortion expenses.

The City Council on Thursday voted against giving $50,000 to the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund to pay for travel-related expenses for residents seeking the procedure. The proposal prompted a threatening letter from two state lawmakers last month that council members said they saw as blackmail.

Thursday’s vote came hours after comments by the public and debate among council members. While many council members said they personally believed in abortion rights, they weren’t comfortable with committing public funding to aiding abortion with so many state laws in place — and bills under consideration ― to restrict just that.

“I’ve been staying awake at night, worrying and thinking about this because this is probably, of all the difficult votes, one of the most difficult,” said City Council chairperson Brandi Gabbard. “Because I wanted to stand with the women of St. Petersburg and I just believe there is more work that I personally can do to do that that is not worth sacrificing because of punitive damages that we know could come down.”

Only two council members voted in favor: Richie Floyd, who proposed the funding, and Deborah Figgs-Sanders.

“I will not compromise on my values,” Floyd said. “I will not cede an inch of ground to authoritarians seeking to silence dissent and erode our rights.”

The council did, however, approve a resolution in a 6-2 vote affirming the right to privacy in women’s health care decisions. It requests that the city not spend money on activity that would “abrogate or criminalize the rights of its residents to make reproductive health decisions.” Council members Ed Montanari and Gina Driscoll voted no.

Last month, two Florida state representatives sent a letter threatening to oppose any state funding for the city until the council drops the plan. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, spoke before the council meeting at a protest held by Florida Preborn Rescue, an anti-abortion group from St. Petersburg.

“We just hope the city of St. Petersburg will make the right decision here,” Jacques said. “Protection of the unborn will always be my business.”

Even if the City Council were to approve the funding, Mayor Ken Welch could still have chosen to not execute an agreement with the abortion fund. City Administrator Rob Gerdes said Welch’s administration had “concerns related to process and precedent” because it could’ve opened the door for other health care services to request funding.

Welch did not take kindly to the threatening letter, saying then on Twitter that the City Council had a “duty to review and debate all issues of importance to our City without regard to threats and attempts to intimidate.”

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“In St. Petersburg, the State of Florida and nationwide, there are passionate beliefs and advocates on both sides of this important debate,” he said in a statement Thursday. “It is our duty as Americans to protect the process of democracy and ensure that all voices have an opportunity to be heard, as was just carried out in our Council Chambers.”

And even if Welch had approved an agreement, the city might be preempted by a bill coursing through the Florida Legislature that prohibits using state funds “in any manner for a person to travel to another state to receive services that are intended to support an abortion.”

“Whether or not we’re preempted now, we’re going to be preempted,” said council member Lisset Hanewicz, the only attorney on the council.

Most of those in attendance at Thursday’s meeting were there to speak for or against the funding.

“State government is backsliding on reproductive health. Ideological anti-abortion restrictions passed in Tallahassee become reality on the local level,” said Cheyenne Collins, a St. Petersburg native and co-founder of the Women’s Advocacy Movement of Pinellas. “The impact is real for our community and our families.”

Resident April Lasley said when her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, “We didn’t have any expectation that anyone was going to pay for him to fly to Texas or North Carolina to best care for cancer.”

“So individuals who choose to take actions that result in pregnancy are no more deserving of taxpayer funds,” she said.