Mayor Corey Hull, recalling his mother’s decision to choose life for him in difficult circumstances, led the City of Carbon on Monday in becoming the 20th Texas city to outlaw abortions.
The city council voted unanimously to adopt a Sanctuary for the Unborn ordinance amid strong support from local residents. Carbon (population 348) is located about 60 southeast of Abilene.
“I believe God has a purpose for every child,” Hull said in a testimony shared with LifeNews. “I am proof. I am living proof. Living. Abortion kills. I could have been aborted. The miracle never stops.”
Hull said his birth mother struggled with a drug addiction and mental health problems. He said he was conceived during a one-night stand with a stranger after his mother’s husband kicked her out of their home. Though his mother easily could have chosen an abortion, she chose life instead and made an adoption plan for him, Hull said.
His adopted parents could have said no, too; he said he was born with drugs in his body and doctors predicted he would have serious mental health problems.
“They never hesitated. … They gave me a mother, a father and a loving older brother. They taught me the love of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Looking at the circumstances surrounding my conception and the statistics of how prevalent abortion was at that time, I am convinced that my birth was a miracle of God.”
On Monday, Hull put his beliefs in action by supporting the Sanctuary for the Unborn ordinance, which recognizes that unborn babies are valuable human beings who deserve to be protected under the law. It prohibits abortions within city limits and prevents abortion businesses from opening there. The ordinance also penalizes abortion practitioners for aborting unborn babies, but it does not penalize women who seek or have abortions.
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Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life of East Texas and leader of the Sanctuary for the Unborn effort, thanked Hull and the other Carbon city leaders for defending unborn babies. He said residents in the cities of Athens and Canton also are urging their city councils to pass pro-life ordinances this winter.
In Carbon, residents expressed strong support for the pro-life ordinance.
“The whole idea of killing your offspring goes totally against the idea of passing down a legacy, a heritage,” resident Wendall Clawson said. “It goes against our God given desire to protect the innocent and helpless. It is morally wrong. We wonder why there is so much violence in this country, well we’ve created the culture for it and it’s time for it to stop.”
Courtney Carlton also supported the ordinance, noting that life begins in the womb. Others spoke about how killing an unborn baby violates God’s plan and destroys his precious creation.
The other Texas cities that have passed pro-life ordinances are Goldsmith, Grapeland, New Home, East Mountain, Whiteface, Wells, Big Spring, Rusk, Waskom, Naples, Joaquin, Tenaha, Gilmer and Westbrook. Omaha also passed an ordinance but later retracted it and passed a non-enforceable resolution instead.
Residents of Lubbock also are trying to pass a Sanctuary for the Unborn ordinance after Planned Parenthood opened a new abortion facility there late last year. In November, the Lubbock City Council rejected the ordinance, but because of a citizen-led petition, residents will have the opportunity to approve the ordinance on the May election ballot.
Each ordinance includes a public enforcement mechanism and a private enforcement mechanism. The public enforcement mechanism establishes fines against the abortionist and anyone who helps with an abortion within city limits. However, it cannot be enforced until Roe v. Wade is overturned.
However, the private enforcement mechanism is immediate. It makes abortionists and those who help them “liable in tort to a surviving relative of the aborted unborn child, including the unborn child’s mother, father, grandparents, siblings or half-siblings,” meaning the abortionist can be sued for aborting the unborn child.
Abortion activists have tried to stop the Sanctuary for the Unborn effort, but, in May, the American Civil Liberties Union dropped its lawsuit challenging seven of the cities’ ordinances.
