A movement to convince city and county governments to pass ordinances declaring themselves sanctuary cities for the unborn has been underway for some time.
"We usually encourage the mayor and council to pass this because they're voted to represent the people," explains Mark Lee Dickson, founder of the Sanctuary initiative. "This is a no-brainer that cities everywhere should say, 'We don't want babies being murdered in our city, and so we're going to outlaw abortion.'"
But not all city leaders approve of the idea of outlawing abortion. In that case, Dickson says there is another method the public can utilize.
"The citizens, because they've had difficulty with leadership or viewed that that pass with their city leadership was not going to be productive, they collect the signatures and force it for a public vote of their council," Dickson explains. "If their council votes it down, then it will go to a vote of the people."
Four cities in Texas – San Angelo, Abilene, Lindale, and Plainview -- are currently circulating petitions to force such a vote.
42 cities nationwide have passed Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances since June of 2019. 38 of those are in Texas, two are in Nebraska, and two are in Ohio.
