Mark Lee Dickson of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn tells AFN commissioners in the southeastern Lea County are considering a new law to turn away any abortion clinic owner who considers setting up shop in their part of the state. The county commission has unanimously voted 5-0 in support of introducing the "Ordinance Requiring Compliance of Federal Laws Governing Abortion."
"They will make the final votes on that ordinance on December 8," Dickson details. "If that ordinance passes, then that means that all of the parts of Lea County, the unincorporated parts, will become sanctuary communities for the unborn."
The ordinance states, "It shall be unlawful for any person to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1461 by using the mails for the mailing, carriage in the mails, or delivery of: any article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion; or any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion."
"It shall be unlawful for any person to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1462 by: using any express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce of any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion," it continues.
Lea County's ordinance also prohibits any person from engaging in conduct which aids or abets any of these acts.
Live Action notes that if passed, the ordinance will not apply to the incorporated cities within the county, which means the cities of Hobbs (pop. 41,604), Lovington (11,851), Eunice (3,087), Jal (2,264), and Tatum (773) will have to pass their own individual measures if they wish for their communities to be under the same protections.
The Hobbs City Council took action this week with a unanimous vote.
"The City of Hobbs passed an ordinance, and so their city is protected," the pro-lifer reports. "They are the first city in New Mexico to become a sanctuary city for the unborn by the passage of an ordinance such as this."
In Clovis, city council members decided to delay a vote on the matter until after the midterm elections, but Dickson points out that the cities and the county are a short drive away from Texas, where almost all abortions have been outlawed.
Meanwhile, at least one abortion chain owner had planned to open an abortuary in Hobbs, but the ordinance likely changes things.
