Council Member Leslie Pool, a longtime supporter of women’s reproductive rights, initially co-sponsored a resolution by Council Member Paige Ellis condemning the new state law known as Senate Bill 8, which has nearly eliminated legal abortions in Texas. Because Ellis used the phrase “individuals who are capable of becoming pregnant” instead of “women” Pool abstained from the vote, sparking immediate pushback from people who thought her abstention reflected a lack of support for LBGTQIA folks. That was not her intent at all, she said, as she later asked her colleagues to reconsider the vote so she could vote in favor of the resolution. “When I abstained earlier today,” Pool said, “I really meant to express my interest in including women specifically in the resolution, but I fear that it came across as me being unreceptive to the concerns and struggles of the trans and intersex communities, and those folks also need access to abortion rights. And I certainly did not intend to exclude them. So, I just want to make sure that it is known that the LGBTQIA community has my support and always has.”
This whisper has been corrected to reflect the fact that the resolution was not changed.