Small Texas Town Declares itself a Sanctuary City for the Unborn, Unanimously Votes to Ban Abortions

Mimi Nguyen Ly
By Mimi Nguyen Ly
June 13, 2019US News
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Small Texas Town Declares itself a Sanctuary City for the Unborn, Unanimously Votes to Ban Abortions
Aerial view of Waskom, Texas, a small town near Louisiana. (Screenshot/Google Maps)

A small city in east Texas unanimously passed a resolution and ordinance late June 11 to declare itself a “sanctuary city for the unborn,” and prohibit abortions in the city.

Waskom, Texas, is right next to the Louisiana border and has a population of about 2,200. The city council, composed of five members, voted unanimously for the measure.

The ordinance was modeled after the resolution of Roswell city in New Mexico in declaring itself a “sanctuary city for the unborn,” but it furthered the move by adding on top a ban on abortions within city limits.

The ordinance does not punish women who seek or undergo abortions in the city, and includes exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and of when the woman’s life is in danger.

But it would make organizations that facilitate abortions, such as Planned Parenthood or NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, be “criminal organizations.”

It also declares Roe v. Wade and other laws permitting abortion “to be unconstitutional usurpations of judicial power, which violate both the Tenth Amendment the Republican Form of Government Clause, and are null and void in the City of Waskom,” KETK reported.

“The Supreme Court erred in Roe v. Wade when it said that pregnant women have a constitutional right to abort their pre-born children,” the ordinance reads, according to Fox News.

Before the council passed the ordinance, however, Waskom city Mayor Jesse Moore warned the packed room of city residents who had gathered for the meeting that they may face a lawsuit, which the city cannot afford if they happen to lose.

No Abortion Clinics in Waskom

Waskom currently does not have any abortion clinics, so supporters regard the latest move as a preventative measure.

There is, however, one abortion facility that exists about 22 miles away in Shreveport, just over the Texas-Louisiana border. City council members and pro-life activists had indicated they were concerned that the Shreveport facility would move their businesses across the border. That’s because a bill in Louisiana recently passed that prohibits abortion once there is a detectable fetal heartbeat.

Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life of East Texas, said that should the Louisiana bill shut down clinics in its own state, he didn’t want any abortion clinics to move to Waskom.

“Due to the recent pro-life legislation in Louisiana being so strong and due to the risk of an abortion clinic one day moving to Waskom, Texas, we decided to do something to protect the city, which was passing an ordinance outlawing abortion in Waskom, Texas,” he told Fox News.

Dickson said that city officials focus on the Bible verse Amos 5:15, which says, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate.” Waskom is regarded as “The Gateway of Texas.”

“We have got to do something to protect our cities and to protect the unborn children,” Dickson said according to KETK.

The latest ordinance would, therefore, deter abortion providers from carrying out such procedures in Waskom.

The unanimous vote took place two days after a pro-life group had rallied with the First Baptist Church of Waskom against abortion.

“What city, what county, what state, is saying to the federal government, ‘here, we will no longer murder our babies?'” said Rusty Thomas, the national director of Operation Save America, a Christian conservative group.

“For this town, we’re saying no babies will be aborted. Not under our watch.”

Challenging Roe v. Wade

The latest measures by Waskom city council are an effort to take the case on abortion to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, KTAL reported.

The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in 1973 (pdf) legalized abortion nationwide, stating that it is part of a woman’s “right to privacy” to undergo an abortion.

It prohibited states from banning abortions before the fetus is deemed “viable,” meaning “potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid.”

The Supreme Court ruled that that states can’t regulate abortion in the first trimester when the decision “must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman’s attending physician.” Then, after the first trimester, states can only “regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health.”

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court said that if unborn children are persons, then they have the right to life. But the decision concluded that unborn children are not persons. However, the Supreme Court also acknowledged that the case to prohibit states from banning abortions would “collapse” if “the fetus is a person,” because then its “right to life would then be guaranteed” by the Constitution.

Direct Challenge

On May 15, the state of Alabama signed into law a near-total abortion ban they said was designed specifically to challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in the strongest way.

The Alabama law took aim at the core issue of whether an unborn child can be considered a person, as discussed in Roe v. Wade. In particular, the Alabama law defines a “person” as “a human being, specifically including an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of viability.” The law appears to be designed to make the argument that the unborn are human beings who should be granted legal protection.

Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville), one of the lawmakers who sponsored the bill, was asked about the legal costs the state would incur if the bill becomes law and is challenged in court.

“Life is a gift of our Creator and we must do everything that we can to protect life,” he responded, AL.com reported. “And if it is a couple of million dollars, that is a small, small price for those lives.”

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