SAN ANTONIO – On Thursday, the City Council approved nearly $500,000 for contraception and reproductive education.

The city approved the reproductive justice fund. District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda says nonprofits will have to bid for the money.

“Mainly for things like healthy pregnancies, classes, things like contraception, education and awareness, there is also money for Dulas, if a mother is currently pregnant and also for STI testing ” Havrda said.

She says this is the first time they’ve done this and hopes it becomes an annual fund. “There is a great lack of health care for underserved people who cannot afford insurance or do not have access to that health care.”

At the council meeting where this funding was approved, she said a plan was in the works to also provide funding for those who would like to leave the state to have an abortion.

“A lot of women find themselves in situations where they may have had a miscarriage and can’t expel the fetus, so they’re having a hard time in San Antonio and Texas being healthy and getting through that situation. safely,” says Havrda.

Kris Coons, chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party, says the plan is disappointing.

“It basically goes against what our party stands for, the idea of ​​transporting women to states for these types of medical services, an abortion, it goes against everything we believe in.”

And she thinks the nearly $500,000 approved today will help fund some services already available.

Havrda says: “Either by personal doctors, or by hospitals, or by several organizations that take care of it, and that is not necessary at the moment. »

The nearly $500,000 comes from the city’s own pocket and Coons says the city doesn’t have the money to spend that way.