Texans keep taking steps forward to protect unborn babies from abortion.
Last week, the City Council of Impact, located near Abilene, Texas, voted unanimously to adopt a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance, which bans the killing of unborn babies in abortions within city limits.
Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, said Impact (population 20) is the 38th city in the U.S. and 35th in Texas to pass a pro-life ordinance.
“No city is too small to protect the smallest and most vulnerable among us,” he told LifeNews.com.
The ordinance makes it “unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy” and prohibits “any person to knowingly aid or abet an abortion” in the city. The ordinance also treats abortion-inducing drugs as contraband within the city limits.
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Pastor Scott Beard of Fountain Gate Fellowship in Abilene, Texas, celebrated the vote, noting its historical significance.
“What an amazing transformation with this community,” Beard said. “Impact was originally chartered as a city for the purpose of selling alcohol because Abilene was dry. Years later, Pastor Jack Sharpe purchased the city with the vision to see that which was in ruins—restored! Today that vision was fulfilled.”
The vote happened barely a week after Texas became the first state in the U.S. to enforce a heartbeat law. The pro-life legislation, which took effect Sept. 1, prohibits abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy, and nearly all abortions have stopped in the state. However, pro-abortion groups are challenging the law in court.
Taylor County Republican Party Chairman Chris Carnohan said many Americans, appalled that tens of millions of babies have been legally killed in abortions since Roe v. Wade in 1973, are working hard to end the injustice.
“In these troubled times, all who believe in the sanctity of life should also pause and give thanks for the Impact’s meaningful action in joining the Sanctuary Cities movement,” Carnohan said. “As an eternal optimist (having read the last chapters of The Book and therefore confident as to how this will all end), I exhort Impact’s action as a brave and resolute step in making Texas a Sanctuary State for the Unborn.”
The Sanctuary City for the Unborn movement is growing, and it has been effective in protecting unborn babies from abortion.
In May, voters in Lubbock, Texas overwhelmingly approved a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance on the ballot, and Planned Parenthood was forced to stop aborting unborn babies there. The abortion chain challenged the ordinance, but a judge threw out its lawsuit earlier this summer.
Large or small, the cities’ actions are making an impact for life and gaining the attention of people across America. To date, 35 cities in Texas, two in Nebraska and one in Ohio have passed pro-life ordinances to outlaw abortions. One city, Omaha, Texas, did repeal its ordinance and pass a non-enforceable pro-life resolution instead.
The ordinance has both public and private enforcement mechanisms. 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 in violation of the ordinance.
Dickson encouraged anyone interested in seeing a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance pass in their city to sign the online petition at www.
More cities in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and other states also are considering passing Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances this year. Though abortion activists have threatened legal action, the cities have been successful in court. In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union dropped its lawsuit challenging several Texas cities’ pro-life ordinances.
