One by one, cities across America are rising up to protect the rights of unborn babies by banning abortions within their borders.
On Monday, the City Council of Anson, Texas voted unanimously to pass a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance that outlaws abortion within city limits.
“A great crowd of residents from throughout the city showed up in support to pray before the historic council meeting,” said Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative. “Way to go Anson, Texas!”
Dickson said Anson (population 2,556) is the 42nd city in the U.S. and the 38th in Texas to pass an enforceable ordinance that prohibits the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
The ordinance makes it “unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy” in the city. It also prohibits “any person to knowingly aid or abet an abortion” and treats abortion-inducing drugs as contraband within the city limits.
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.
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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.
Two cities in Ohio and two more in Nebraska also have passed similar Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances. One city, Omaha, Texas, did repeal its ordinance and pass a non-enforceable pro-life resolution instead.
Though abortion activists have threatened legal action, the cities have been successful in court thus far. In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union dropped its lawsuit challenging several Texas cities’ pro-life ordinances.
Then, 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.
“I stand here today for my coworkers who were unable to be here today, my ancestors who are no longer with us, and the innocent unborn who are unable to have their voices heard. … I too want abortions to be outlawed. Let’s add this to our many reasons why we are proud to live here in the great city of Anson, Texas,” she said.
Dickson thanked the city council for taking action as well as city attorney Chad Cowan.
Dickson encouraged anyone interested in seeing a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance pass in their city to sign the online petition at www.