The capital of Texas is turning thumbs up to abortion and thumbs down to a pro-life group.

The Austin City Council, known for its liberal leanings, voted last week [Item #11] to lease a building the city owns to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in the United States. Nichole Hudgens of Texas Values says property owners are being ignored.

"The equivalent of what Planned Parenthood is getting to pay for rent right now of $1 a year, Austin residents are paying hundreds of dollars per month and thousands of dollars per year [in property taxes]," she explains.

In fact, residents on the east side of the city where the building is located have been moving because property taxes are so high and schools have actually closed.

A pro-life organization, Austin Life Care, wanted the building to perform many of the services Planned Parenthood provides – but not abortion.

Hudgens

"And they offered to pay the fair market value of this property which is at least $111,000 [per year in property taxes] and even work on renovations, but the Austin City Council will not hear the proposal," says Hudgens.

According to Texas Values, Planned Parenthood's one-dollar-a-year lease over the 20-year span represents at least a $4 million tax break for the abortion giant.

Hudgens argues that city residents are getting stiffed in another way. They had to boil water for a week because an old water system could not handle the impact of recent flooding. She says the $4 million would have been a nice down payment to resolve that issue.