Mark Lee Dickson/Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo City Council will be formally presented with a certificate and statement from the Sanctuary City for the Unborn petitioning committee seeking an election at their upcoming meeting.
Earlier this year, the committee collected the required number of signatures to force the council to take action on their proposed ordinance. Despite the council expressing their opposition to abortion, a majority expressed concerns with the proposed ordinance. In particular, Mayor Cole Stanley was worried it would not be enforceable, Councilman Tom Scherlen worried it would cause unintended consequences for the city, and Councilman Les Simpson felt unconvinced there was a need for the city to act given restrictions on abortion passed by the state.
Over the course of several meetings, lengthy public comment sessions were held on the topic. While much of the opposition came from the left, several conservatives joined the majority on the council in expressing concerns regarding the ordinance.
The petition has been backed by Mark L:ee Dickson, the director of Right to Life of East Texas, as well as prominent anti-abortion attorney Jonathan Mitchell. Mitchell is known for having drafted the Texas Heartbeat Act, though he and Dickson now argue that the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance is needed to close loopholes in state law. Proponents of the ordinance have also stated they wanted to avoid an election to prevent outside forces from influencing city policies.
In the end, on June 11th, the council voted 4 to 1 to reject both the proposed ordinance as well as a lightly modified amended version put forward by the petition committee. (Councilman Don Tipps voted in favor of both versions of the ordinance, while Councilman Josh Craft joined the other three in rejecting the ordinance.)
Following the council’s rejection, the petitioning committee had until July 1st to decide whether or not to exercise their right to have the proposal placed on the ballot. A law firm representing the committee then told the council that “the Committee will withhold action until that date, because time still remains for the Council to adopt the Ordinance,” according to records obtained by The Amarillo Pioneer.
Despite claiming they would wait until the deadline, the committee requested to have the item placed on the ballot on June 29th. The request specifically asks the council to put the original petitioned-for ordinance on the ballot, which the city is now obligated to do.
Though the request will be formally presented to the council during their upcoming July 9th meeting, the council is not expected to formally call an election during the meeting. Instead, the item will be to “discuss the item and upcoming steps.” The council is expected to officially call the election during their July 23rd meeting, though state law gives them until August 19th to do so. Once the election is called, the item will be placed on the November 5th general election ballot.