The Dallas City Council passed a resolution Wednesday to de-prioritize abortion investigations and limit the use of city resources in investigating abortion-related investigations.
The council voted 13-1, with one member absent, to approve the resolution, officially titled the “Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone (GRACE) Act.”
Dallas joins other Texas cities that have implemented similar measures, including Austin, Denton, and San Antonio.
The resolution will prohibit city workers from keeping records, giving out information, or doing surveillance work related to investigations of potential abortion offenses or miscarriages.
The resolution does provide a handful of exceptions. For instance, city workers can pass on information about the outcome of a pregnancy or an abortion to comply with state or federal law. City employees can also give out such information if it is done to protect a patient’s access to abortion.
The tracking of abortions is allowed only for the purpose of collecting aggregate data not linked to a criminal case or investigation. The new policy will also allow city workers from getting initial reports on abortions, such as taking a 911 call.
While the resolution requires that any investigations tied to abortions be assigned the lowest priority, that is exempt in certain criminal cases. For example, investigating if an abortion occurred for evidence of a crime such as sexual assault will be allowed.
District 7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua introduced the resolution claiming, “It is our responsibility as local elected officials to do everything we can at the local level to protect bodily autonomy and uphold reproductive rights, especially as our state continues to undermine them.”
District 10 Council Member Adam McGough was the lone vote against the resolution. He believed more time was needed to consider all the possible legal ramifications of the resolution and establish how it would be enforced.
“This is a failure in leadership and a failure of policy,” McGough said. “And we’re going to have a lot of negative implications from it.”
He told the council that his family’s doctor once advised him and his wife to terminate her pregnancy because of health risks. McGough said they chose not to follow the advice, and their son is now thriving.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia told council members the department is still trying to determine what to do when the city receives abortion-related reports not connected to other crimes. He added that it is unclear what state agency would be in charge of investigating abortions.
“Myself as well as other chiefs in other cities don’t know exactly how this is going to work,” he said. “My plan is as soon as we get some direction, either from other cities or the state, is to work with the city manager’s office to figure out exactly what our (standard operating procedures) will be.”
The resolution instructs City Manager T.C. Broadnax to complete a presentation and report about how the resolution is applied to city policies, procedures, and other areas by December 14.
Speaking to the Washington Post Live about the resolution, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said that he did not anticipate abortion cases to come across his desk, noting that, “all the clinics [which provided abortion services] at this point in time are closed, and I don’t anticipate that any of them will open.”
He continued to say, however, “I am protective of women, I will be, of their decisions, their doctors’ decision [and] their healthcare providers.”
In neighboring Tarrant County, District Attorney Sharen Wilson has promised to prosecute violations of the state’s anti-abortion law.
“Prosecutors do not make the law — we follow it,” Wilson said in July. “We followed Roe v. Wade when it was the law and we will follow Texas state law now.”
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, thereby allowing each individual state to determine whether or not abortion will be permitted.
A Texas law passed last year allowing abortions only in life-threatening situations will go into effect on August 25. That law will make it a felony to knowingly perform, induce or attempt an abortion.
Anti-abortion advocates, such as Jonathan Covey, Director of Policy for Texas Values, derided the resolution’s passage.
“By passing the abortion resolution, Dallas City Council put unborn lives in danger and recklessly compromised the oath law enforcement officers have taken to uphold the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas,” said Covey. “This political posturing puts the city on shaky legal ground and potentially wastes thousands of taxpayer dollars while denying science and hurting women. Thankfully, women who need help can get connected with life-saving resources at www.texasheartbeatlaw.com.”