WASKOM, TEXAS, June 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The Waskom City Council passed a Pro-Life city ordinance Tuesday night that protects preborn children by declaring abortion to be unlawful. The city council unanimously voted to declare Waskom a "sanctuary city of the unborn" to prevent any abortion providers from doing business in the city. Waskom’s ordinance does not penalize women who seek or undergo abortions.
The movement gained widespread support from the community. Favorable activists packed the meeting and celebrated the unanimous vote.
Pro-Life legal experts applaud the city ordinance as an innovative legal development that will likely benefit the movement. The measure differs from state laws and initiatives that prohibit abortions early in pregnancy or outlawing all abortions in multiple critical ways.
Texas Right to Life applauds Waskom City Council and their mayor for their political courage and moral clarity. Mayor Jesse Moore said, "We decided to take things into our own hands, and we've got to do something to protect our cities and to protect the unborn children."
While there are currently no abortion businesses in Waskom, an abortion facility exists 22 miles away in Shreveport, just over the Louisiana-Texas border. Several city council members and Pro-Life activists expressed concerns that the Shreveport abortion facility will move their business across the border since Louisiana now offers more protections for preborn children than Texas.
Texas Right to Life has long held that the Pro-Life movement must look ahead to prudent ways to challenge one of the Supreme Court’s most detrimental and misguided rulings in American history: Roe v. Wade. We must focus on saving lives today as well as laying the legal foundation of overturning Roe. Waskom’s carefully drafted city ordinance is a positive development for the Pro-Life movement in Texas.
Founded in 1973, Texas Right to Life is the oldest and largest Pro-Life organization in Texas. Recognized as the statewide leader of the Pro-Life movement in Texas, Texas Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect the rights of the preborn, persons with disabilities, the sick, the elderly, and the vulnerable through legal, peaceful and prayerful means.
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