Town becomes 14th community in Texas to ban abortion
A Texas town has become the 14th local government to declare itself a “sanctuary city for the unborn,” rejecting the legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
The City of East Mountain, official population 797, decided on Monday to become a Sanctuary City, with 3 City Council members voting yes and 2 abstaining.
Right to Life of East Texas, a pro-life advocacy group that has campaigned for such local ordinances, took to social media to announce the successful vote.
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“We are thankful for the support of the men and women of East Mountain Baptist Church and those from throughout the city who wanted to see this ordinance passed. This could not have happened without their support,” they stated on Facebook.
“May all of our churches and all of the residents of our cities do their part and call upon their leaders to pass good laws that protect the citizens and culture of their communities! As it says in Amos 5:15, may we all ‘Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the city gate.’”
Since last year, several Texas towns and small cities have passed ordinances declaring their refusal to accept the legality of abortion with their municipalities.
This has included vowing to outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court decides to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which concluded that abortion was a constitutional right.
The first Texas city to pass such an ordinance was Waskom, which voted in June of last year to prevent abortion providers from conducting business within their jurisdiction.
Waskom Mayor Jesse Moore said in a statement quoted by Fox at the time that the pro-life ordinance was focused on preventing the possible creation of an abortion clinic in the city.
“We decided to take things into our own hands, and we've got to do something to protect our cities and to protect the unborn children,” stated Moore last year.
Seven of the towns experienced a legal challenged by the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union over their ordinances, which argued that they violated the Constitution.
Filed on behalf of the Lilith Fund and Texas Equal Access Fund, the ACLU dropped the lawsuit in May when the ordinances were amended to clarify that the abortion providers could perform “abortion-related advocacy work” in the towns.
