Pueblo, Colorado Initially Approves New Law Banning Abortions

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Nov 30, 2022   |   12:10PM   |   Pueblo, Colorado

A huge crowd of pro-lifers showed up Monday to support the City Council of Pueblo, Colorado in an effort to protect mothers and babies from a notorious late-term abortionist who plans to open a new abortion facility in the city.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports the Pueblo City Council voted 4-3 to advance a pro-life ordinance from Councilwoman Regina Maestri. The council likely will consider a final vote Dec. 12.

Maestri said local residents approached her with concerns about late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart, who recently purchased a building in Pueblo and plans to open a new facility.

“It takes courage,” she said of introducing the ordinance in pro-abortion Colorado. “I know when I lay my head down at night, I know I’ve done the right thing. I hope this takes us in the direction that we’re looking for for a safer community for women.”

More than 135 people, most of whom were pro-life, attended the meeting to voice their opinions about the proposed ordinance, including Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative.

He told the city council that more than 60 other cities across the U.S. already have passed ordinances to protect unborn babies, and all of the legal challenges against them thus far have failed.

“This abortionist coming to Pueblo, Colorado, has a history of hurting women and ending the lives of their children,” Dickson said, before playing a 911 call in September from Carhart’s Nebraska abortion facility for a patient who was heavily bleeding.

Carhart, who also runs Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence (CARE) abortion facilities in Nebraska and Maryland, is under investigation by Nebraska health officials after a 35-year-old patient accused him of nearly killing her in a botched abortion in February, according to Operation Rescue.

“Women are going to get hurt in this city, and it’s going to cause a lot of problems,” Dickson told KRDO News 13 in an interview. “And I don’t think the hospital wants that, and I sure don’t think any of those council members really want a place to come into this community that’s actually going to be hurting women.”

According to the Chieftain, the proposed ordinance “uses the same mechanism of enforcement as the six-week abortion ban in Texas, where private citizens, instead of the government, can enforce the law by suing abortion providers.” It also cites federal laws that prohibit mail-order abortion drugs, and creates a new licensing requirement for abortion facilities.

Maestri defended Dickson against abortion activists’ criticism, saying if he is “invading” Colorado from Texas, “so are the abortion clinics. They’re not from Pueblo.” She said the ordinance was prompted by local residents’ concerns, and she is pro-life and believes in the “choice to give life over death.”

Colorado law allows unborn babies to be aborted for basically any reason up to birth. A new state law also prohibits local municipalities from infringing on abortions.

In a statement to the local news, a spokesperson for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said he is “committed to defending the Reproductive Health Equity Act and challenging any local ordinance that violates the law.”

“Our office is monitoring developments regarding the proposed ordinance in Pueblo and has no further comment while it is under consideration by the Pueblo City Council,” the spokesperson said.

A growing grassroots movement is working to protect unborn babies at the local level. To-date, more than 60 cities in Texas, Ohio, Nebraska and New Mexico have passed Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances that protect unborn babies by banning abortions and/or abortion facilities within city limits.

Other cities and counties have passed pro-life resolutions, which are statements of support but not enforceable law, that recognize unborn babies’ right to life. In Arkansas, 19 counties and 10 cities and towns have passed pro-life resolutions, according to Family Council of Arkansas. Several North Carolina counties passed pro-life resolutions recently, too, and the New Mexico county commissioners of Otero approved a resolution in July condemning the pro-abortion laws in their state.

ACTION ALERT: To urge support for final passage of this abortion ban, Contact the Pueblo City Council.