Colorado City: Sanctuary for the Unborn
The movement is really gaining steam in Texas. Colorado City, tonight, became the ninth city to outlaw abortion within its city limits. The west Texas town of about 4,000 passed an ordinance declaring itself a “Sanctuary City for The Unborn.”
In an exclusive interview with CRIT-LARGE, we spoke with the man leading the charge in this pro-life fight, Mark Lee Dickson. Dickson is the director of Right to Life East Texas and seeks to ban abortion by legal ordinance in every Texas town.
In a series of questions and answers, Dickson broke down the victory tonight:
CL: Can you speak on what seems like real momentum being gained in your fight? How do you feel about two—and potentially three—pro-life victories in one week?
MLD: “Cities are becoming more and more confident that they too should do everything possible that they can do to make sure that their city is safe from the baby-murdering industry. The more cities that pass these enforceable ordinances, the safer the State of Texas becomes from baby-murdering giants like Planned Parenthood and Whole Woman’s Health and Hope Medical Group For Women. I do not expect the momentum to slow down anytime soon.”
CL: So how did this happen, exactly? Why Colorado City?
MLD: “After the City of Westbrook outlawed abortion, several residents of Colorado City said, ‘We need to get this ordinance passed in Colorado City.’ Since I was at the Big Spring meeting on December 10th, Rebecca Parma with Texas Right To Life gave a first pitch in Colorado City and, a month later, on January 14th the city council heard from Parma and the residents again and voted to outlaw abortion in their city.”
CL: Spectacular. So what do these ordinances actually do? What do they say?
MLD: “The ordinance states, ‘Abortion at all times and at all stages of pregnancy is declared to be an act of murder with malice aforethought. … [That] the Supreme Court erred in Roe v. Wade when it said that pregnant women have a constitutional right to abort their unborn children, as there is no language anywhere in the Constitution that even remotely suggests that abortion is a constitutional right.’
“[It continues,] ‘to protect the health and welfare of all residents within the City of Colorado City, including the unborn and pregnant women, the city council has found it necessary to outlaw human abortion any stage of pregnancy within the city limits.’
“The ordinance also names certain abortion-performing organizations criminal organizations, including: Planned Parenthood and any of its affiliates, Jane’s Due Process, The Afiya Center, The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, Texas Equal Access Fund.”
CL: You mentioned these ordinances being “enforceable.” How do they work since Roe v. Wade is in effect?
MLD: “The ordinance [works by] two mechanisms: by public enforcement and private enforcement. Both of these mechanisms are meant to deter the baby-murdering industry from ever coming into Colorado City.
“The public enforcement mechanism states that anyone who performs an abortion can be charged. [Also,] ...anyone who pays for an abortion [or] anyone who drives someone to the abortion... can also be charged for aiding and abetting an abortion.
“This public mechanism is sometimes called the ‘future enforcement mechanism’ because this part of the ordinance cannot be enforced until the overturning of Roe v. Wade. However, even though this mechanism is not enforceable now, anyone who violates the ordinance is still breaking the law and can face those penalities when Roe v. Wade is overturned.
“This mechanism should deter an abortionist from ever wanting to perform an abortion within Colorado City. …[W]hy would an abortionist risk making $600 off of an abortion if later on he may be penalized for $2,000 for performing that abortion? Of course, if the public mechanism does not deter the baby-murderers, we believe the private mechanism will deter them.”
CL: What is the private mechanism?
MLD: “The private enforcement mechanism states that anyone who performs an abortion within the city limits... can be sued by ‘any surviving relative of the aborted unborn child, including the child’s mother, father, grandparents, siblings or half-siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins.’
“The ordinance goes on to say, ‘The person or entity that committed the unlawful act shall be liable to each surviving relative of the aborted child for: Compensatory damages, including damages for emotional distress; Punitive damages; and Costs and attorney’s fees.’ And, unlike the public enforcement mechanism, the private enforcement mechanism is not dependent upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
CL: What other cities are on your list? What's the next stop?
MLD: “Our next vote will be Gary City, but I have speaking engagements this week in Levelland, East Mountain, and Nacogdoches. We want to see this ordinance passed in every city in Texas, of course, but both Lindale and Carthage are high on our list as well.”
CL: We’ll see you there. What’s your website again?
MLD: “You can follow Right to Life East Texas and the fight to make our cities Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn at https://sanctuarycitiesfortheunborn.com/.”
CL: Thanks, Mark!
Continue to follow the Texas pro-life fight in our CRIT-LARGE series, Texas: Sanctuary for the Unborn.