Though the state in general is sold out for abortion for any reason up to birth, Danville, a town of about 30,000, is going against the grain. This week, by a vote of 8-7, the city passed a "sanctuary city for the unborn" ordinance. The mayor's vote was the tiebreaker.
Mark Lee Dickson of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn credits that in part to the pro-life crowd that showed up at city council meeting.
"It was about an 80/20 turnout – 80% in favor of life, and 20% against life there in those council chambers," Dickson reports. "The people, at least in Danville, they want to stand up and push back against abortion."
The ordinance does not explicitly ban abortion; it simply forces compliance with the Comstock Act, a federal law that prohibits the mailing or receiving of abortion-inducing drugs or abortion paraphernalia.
Leading up to the meeting, the council received letters from the ACLU of Illinois and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul opposing the measure. Then at the meeting, the council heard from several in opposition to the ordinance, including Illinois Pharmacy Association Executive Director Garth Reynolds and Executive Board President Carrie Wiggins.
But with an abortionist looking to relocate from nearby Indiana, Dickson says the city had a good reason for making this proactive move.
"You've got an abortion facility in Indiana that is fleeing that state because that state has passed an abortion ban," he reports. "They want to set up shop there in Danville, Illinois, and the people are just not having it."
Without the ordinance, women and girls from both states would be coming to Danville to end the lives of their preborn babies. But now, the Indiana abortionist will have to start shopping for different real estate.
The vote made Danville the 67th city in the nation and the first in Illinois to pass a "sanctuary city for the unborn" ordinance. Dickson says other Illinois towns are considering similar measures.
