Missouri, Arizona municipalities seeking to become ‘Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn’ 

The number of cities in the nation that have passed an ordinance outlawing abortion now numbers 70, reports the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.

Mark Lee Dickson also told The Lion there are now numerous cities and counties throughout Missouri and Arizona that have expressed interest in passing a similar ordinance – especially in the wake of voter approval of constitutional amendments that expand abortion in these states.

The city of Ovilla, Texas, became the 70^th in the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws abortion and declares itself to be a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn.”

Located about 20 miles from Dallas, with a population of 4,709, the Ovilla City Council passed the ordinance Dec. 9 by a vote of 4-1, making the suburb the 53rd Texas city, and the first in Dallas County, to pass it, Dickson reported Dec. 12 at Live Action News. 

Dickson, who also serves as director of Right to Life of East Texas, said the cities and counties in both Missouri and Arizona that have contacted him about passing an ordinance to outlaw abortion are “seeking to go, as far as they can possibly go, to preserve the safety, health, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, morals, and welfare of all inhabitants under their jurisdiction.” 

Additionally, he said, these local governments also want to “ensure the federal prohibitions on the shipment of abortion pills and abortion-related paraphernalia are obeyed in their communities. 

“This is something that can be done in Arizona and Missouri – even with their new constitutional amendments,” Dickson explained to The Lion, noting with regard to Missouri:  

“The Missouri General Assembly has already declared the state and all of its political subdivisions to be ‘sanctuaries of life’ that ‘protect pregnant women and their unborn children.’ The passage of Amendment 3 did not change that. 

“The Supreme Court of the United States in Poelker v. Doe … (1977) has also opined that ‘the Constitution does not forbid a state or city, pursuant to democratic processes, from expressing a preference for normal childbirth’ instead of abortion. 

“It is also worth noting that nothing in the Constitution and laws of Missouri can secure a right, privilege or immunity to act in violation of federal criminal statutes,” Dickson continued. “The so-called ‘fundamental right to reproductive freedom’ brought about by Amendment 3 and described in Article I, Section 36 ‘to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care’ does not and cannot encompass conduct that violates federal criminal statutes. 

“It is already against federal law to ship or receive abortion pills or abortion-related paraphernalia in interstate or foreign commerce, to perform a partial-birth abortion, and to aid or abet such acts. Amendment 3 does not trump these federal statutes. In actuality, these federal statutes trump all state laws and state constitutions.”  

Amendment 3 passed in Missouri in November, with about 52% of voters backing the measure compared to 48% who rejected it. The amendment’s approval enshrines in the state Constitution a right to abortion until fetal viability and beyond that if the mother’s life or her physical or mental health is perceived to be at risk. 

Missouri’s amendment was considered a victory for pro-abortion activists, in that it not only reversed a near-total prohibition on abortion but also included a woman’s “mental health” as an exception for an abortion up until birth – a loophole known to be easily manipulated by late-term abortionists.  

Voters in Arizona, where unborn babies were protected until 15 weeks’ gestation, approved Prop 139, an amendment that will now allow abortions up to viability and even later if a woman’s life or health is perceived to be in danger.  

Dickson described both Amendment 3 and Prop 139 as “horrible snake-like amendments for Missouri and Arizona.” 

Still, he says, the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative can be effective. 

“Those snakes can be defanged. That is what this effort accomplishes. This effort will not get rid of these amendments, but this effort can defang these amendments by giving private citizens the ability to file a lawsuit against pro-abortion individuals and organizations violating these federal statutes.” 

It’s the private enforcement mechanism that drives both Ovilla’s Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance and the Texas Heartbeat Act.  

As Dickson recently explained at Live Action News, the Ovilla ordinance states: “Any person, other than the city of Ovilla, and any officer or employee of the city, has standing to bring and may bring a civil action against any person or entity that violates any provision” of this ordinance. 

“Ovilla’s ordinance is clear that ‘a civil action … may not be brought: against the woman upon whom the abortion was performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in violation of this ordinance, or against a pregnant woman who intends or seeks to abort her unborn child in violation of this ordinance.” 

As is the case with other Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, Ovilla received a letter from attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas, “committing to represent the City of Ovilla at no cost to the city or taxpayers for any litigation that may arise from the passage of their ordinance outlawing abortion and abortion trafficking.” 

Dickson urges residents in American cities and counties with interest in having their local government pass an enforceable ordinance to outlaw abortion to sign the online petition from the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative website.