After the Amarillo City Council rejected a proposed ordinance to make Amarillo a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” last month, voters will now likely have a say on the matter at the ballot box.

According to the City of Amarillo, the committee responsible for petitioning the City Council on the matter has requested that the item be placed before the voters. The committee made the decision to move forward with the election several weeks after the City Council rejected its ordinance.

While the move was widely expected following the ordinance’s defeat at the City Council’s meeting, it was not the original preference of committee members. Publicly, most members of the petitioning committee had spoken in opposition to placing the item on the ballot and had asked the City Council to approve the measure without a public vote.

According to Mayor Cole Stanley, the council received several requests to change their vote before the deadline for the committee to request an election, but the council declined to do so. The committee sent its request, stating they had unanimously voted to move forward with an election, on Saturday, just days before their deadline.

The City Council is now expected to take up the order calling an election on the petition at its next meeting on July 9th. Final ballot language is expected to be approved on July 23rd, according to Mayor Cole Stanley.