Texas is working to make abortion illegal and unthinkable, one city at a time, through the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative. In Lubbock, TX, this effort has been with significant efforts from a student, Katherine Cochran, who is the Students for Life Industry Impact Captain in Texas. She, along with other Raiders Defending Life at the Texas Tech University have given SFLA a voice on this issue. While the proposal to make Lubbock a Sanctuary City was rejected by the city council, the journey is far from over. The ordinance is likely headed to the voters, at which point Lubbock residents can know for certain that the preborn will be fully protected in their city.
Others involved with the efforts include Pastor Mark Lee Dickson, the founder of the initiative. There’s also Jonathan Mitchell, who has agreed to represent the City at no cost to the cities or taxpayers if they are sued over the passing of the city ordinance. Mitchell isn’t just any attorney; he’s the former Texas Solicitor General and a former member of President Donald Trump’s legal team.
This ordinance, known as the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance has been passed into city law in 16 Texas cities as of this writing (with one city rescinding its ordinance for a resolution). Abortion is effectively being outlawed, city by city, in the state of Texas.
One consideration the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn website mentions is if “there are currently any abortion clinics in [the] city?”
In that case, Cochran and the others behind the project have acted at the right place at the right time. Cochran also was instrumental in exposing and rallying against the Lubbock Planned Parenthood facility, which just recently opened on October 23. They will commit surgical and chemical abortions in 2021, only a few months from now. “It was then I knew I had to act,” said Cochran, upon finding out the abortion giant was going through the “bold move” of plans to open the facility.
Exposing these clinics is key, as many mega centers have opened across the country recently, though Planned Parenthood often strives to make sure residents aren’t aware until it’s too late. In Illinois, for instance, even local and mainstream media admitted that Planned Parenthood built such a center in secret. A majority are in minority neighborhoods.
According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:
The sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance says, “It shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Lubbock, Texas.”
The ordinance also says it shall be unlawful for someone to aid and abet an abortion — the ordinance makes it unlawful to drive someone to a clinic for an abortion, to provide money with the knowledge it will be used for an abortion, or giving instructions regarding self-administered abortions.
It also says the abortion provider can be sued for emotional distress by a member of the unborn child’s family, including, grandparents, siblings and half-siblings.
Over 150 people showed up for the public meeting, to the tune of 5.5 hours of testimony, many of them in favor of protecting the preborn in such an ordinance. Nevertheless, the proposal failed to pass by a unanimous vote. This included from pro-life members, such as Councilman Juan Chadis, who said “I also value life,” but who views the ordinance as “not enforceable.” His “concern” was the “city would be exposed to a costly legal battle.”
Cochran offers here though that the ordinance is constitutionally enforceable. The ordinance was crafted following Senate Bill 22, which Cochran explains “prohibited state funding to abortion vendors. This bill includes an amendment that expressly says the bill does not restrict a city or county from prohibiting abortion.” That certainly seems relevant to the concerns of Councilman Chadis.
Texans may sign a petition here to start the process for their city to become a sanctuary city.
It may soon be up to the people of Lubbock to decide whether to take on these efforts to protect the preborn in their city, come an election in May. NBC 11, the local news station, reported that those behind the ordinance can file a certificate to put it on the ballot, to be presented at the December 7 council meeting.
