A Nebraska city is on its way to becoming the third in the state to pass a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance that would outlaw abortions.
KNOP News 2 reports the Curtis City Council voted 3-1 in favor of the second reading of the ordinance. The council must vote one more time for the ordinance to pass. That vote likely will occur at its Dec. 8 meeting.
The pro-life ordinance would protect unborn babies by making abortions illegal within city limits. If it passes, Curtis would become the third or fourth city in Nebraska with a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance. Leaders of Dunning, Nebraska also are considering a pro-life ordinance this fall. Two other towns, Hayes Center and Blue Hill, passed pro-life ordinances earlier this year.
According to the local news, the final approval in Curtis may depend on legal opinions from the League of Nebraska Municipalities and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson. Jon Schroeder, attorney for the Curtis City Council, recently asked both to provide comments about the ordinance.
Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!
To date, 42 cities in Texas, Nebraska and Ohio have passed Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances, and the ordinances have withstood two lawsuits thus far.
Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, said he does not know what the League of Nebraska Municipalities will say about the proposed ordinance in Curtis.
In Texas, “the Texas Municipal League, from the beginning, discouraged cities from passing ordinances outlawing abortion,” Dickson told the local news. “The Texas Municipal League is perceived by many as a liberal lobbying group, which was why no one was really surprised that they discouraged cities from passing ordinances outlawing abortion.”
The Sanctuary for the Unborn ordinance 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. It also penalizes abortion practitioners for aborting unborn babies, but it does not penalize women who seek or have abortions.
The ordinances are saving lives. 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.
In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union also dropped its lawsuit challenging several Texas cities’ pro-life ordinances.
At least two more Nebraska cities, Paxton and Arnold, also are considering Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances, according to KNOP.
Earlier this year, Gov. Pete Ricketts praised towns in his state for taking action to protect unborn babies, KNOP News 2 reported at the time.
“Nebraska is a pro-life state, and communities are working to recognize and protect innocent life in a variety of ways. The Biden-Harris Administration is pushing a radical, pro-abortion agenda, and Nebraska must do everything we can to stand against the abortion lobby,” said Ricketts, a pro-life Republican.
