On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the voters of Amarillo rejected a Sanctuary City for the Unborn (SCFTU) ordinance. The ordinance, known on the ballot as Prop A, would have further prohibited abortion and abortion trafficking in the City of Amarillo. A total of 40.54% (27,544) voted for the measure with 59.46% (40,392) voting against the measure.
Had it passed, Amarillo’s Prop A would have closed several loopholes in Texas pro-life laws by prohibiting the abortion trafficking of pregnant mothers and their unborn children through Amarillo and across state lines, the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs into the city, and the transportation and disposal of the remains of unborn children killed by elective abortions.
The vote made the City of Amarillo the first Texas city wherein voters rejected an anti-abortion ordinance on a citywide ballot. Had Amarillo’s Prop A passed, the city would have become the 53rd in Texas and the 70th in the nation to pass such an ordinance. It would also have been the sixth pro-life ballot victory in Texas since the initiative began, following citywide ballot victories in Lubbock (May 2021), Abilene, San Angelo, Plainview, and Athens (November 2022). Both Texas Right to Life’s Texas Pro-Life 2024 Voter Guide and Live Action Victory’s 2024 Voter Guide encouraged Amarillo voters to vote in favor of Prop A, as did a multitude of influential pro-life organizations and leaders.
However, the ordinance was opposed by many influential voices throughout the community including Mayor Cole Stanley, Councilman Tom Scherlen, Hope Choice Pregnancy Centers Executive Director Candy Gibbs, Randall County Assistant District Attorney and Planned Parenthood Texas Votes Speaker’s Bureau member Aubrey Birkenfeld, national Women’s March Executive Director Rachel O’Leary Carmona, and Claudia Stravato, former CEO of Planned Parenthood of Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle. Several local groups in the community also publicly opposed the measure, including Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance (ARFA), Amarillo Freedom PAC, the Board of the Potter-Randall County Medical Society, the League of Women Voters of Amarillo, the Potter County Democrat Party, the Randall County Democrat Party, and Conservative Patriots 4 Texas. In addition, many outside interests worked with local individuals and organizations to help defeat Prop A.
When the news broke about the defeat of Prop A, many of those opposed to the measure weighed in on what Prop A’s defeat meant for the city, the state, and the nation.
The Amarillo Globe-News reported that Mayor Stanley, “who opposed Proposition A, expressed relief and pride in the voters’ decision.” Mayor Stanley told the local news outlet, “I’m super proud of the council for doing their job. Our job is to represent the people, not just those who voted for us, but everyone in Amarillo. We brought an extremely divisive issue to the public, and the people had their say.” Mayor Stanley went on to accuse the measure of not aligning with state law and called the measure “confusing as hell.” Councilman Scherlen also “expressed satisfaction with the outcome.”
Women’s March, the national organization whose executive director now lives in Amarillo and has been extremely aggressive in targeting the city, posted on X:
Amarillo showed up and won! Prop A—the abortion travel ban pushed by Christian extremists—has been defeated! Endless gratitude and love to the unstoppable women of Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance and everyone who showed up with us. Huge thanks to every single one of you who chipped in, made calls, and knocked on doors to help defeat this ordinance. This victory proves it: our rights are not up for grabs.
A press release issued by Texas Freedom Network, the organization founded by former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, daughter of former Texas Democrat Governor Ann Richards, stated:
Texans are not prisoners of the state, and this state does not own our bodies. We are grateful that Amarillo voters have chosen freedom by rejecting Prop A. This ordinance was an example of massive government overreach, unnecessary cruelty, and a clear violation of the Constitution. Texans deserve freedom over our own bodies and futures, without an extremist minority consistently chipping away at our autonomy and constitutional rights. The majority of Texans support access to abortion, yet the same people who concocted our six-week abortion ban continue pushing their unpopular anti-choice, anti-freedom agenda . . . We as voters and Texans must be vigilant in organizing our communities against plots like Prop A, and our fight to go beyond Roe’s protections can never stop . . . The rejection of Prop A is a celebration of freedom.
The ACLU of Texas posted on X:
AMAZING: Voters in Amarillo, Texas, have rejected the city’s abortion travel ban. This victory comes after months of local organizing. The message is clear: Texans want to protect reproductive freedom — and will do so when given the opportunity.
Texas Right to Life weighs in on the Defeat of Prop A
One of the organizations in support of Prop A was Texas Right To Life – the largest and oldest pro-life organization in the State of Texas. Commenting on the defeat, President Dr. John Seago shared:
The fact that national and state pro-abortion groups were able to defeat the citizen-led Pro-Life local ordinance in Amarillo is tragic. The tragedy of Prop A is compounded by the fact that these groups used some of the most manipulative and deceptive messaging that the Pro-Life movement in Texas has ever seen. These radical Pro-abortion groups like the Women’s March did not argue that voters should support abortion, instead they lied about Prop A, Texas Pro-Life laws, and poured in money to flood the city with false accusations against the measure that would appeal to conservatives and Christians in Amarillo.
Seago continued:
Pro-Life Proposition A would have enacted a carefully crafted ordinance that would allow Amarillo citizens to fight back against the new tactics the abortion industry is using to bring abortion pills into Texas and women and minors out-of-state for abortion. This was a good Pro-Life policy that I hope the citizens of Amarillo have not given up on yet.
The Fight for Life Continues
While citizens throughout Amarillo were heartbroken over Prop A’s defeat, they are not finished fighting. Amarillo resident Bonnie Burnett shared, “I will not pretend this is not a devastating loss. It is. It was a gut punch.” Burnett placed the blame for the loss on community leaders who claim to be pro-life but whose public stances aided the pro-abortion opposition.
Burnett’s strongest criticism was for Mayor Cole Stanley, who went on a local Christian radio station, Kingdom Keys, and proclaimed: “You can be pro-life and still vote against Prop A.”
Burnett shared, “The Bible is clear on this topic. The shedding of innocent blood is a SIN. We are called as Christians to protect the sanctity of ALL life and put legislation in place to do so.”
When Mayor Stanley heard that the fight for Amarillo to prohibit abortion trafficking would continue, he criticized the Sanctuary City for the Unborn Initiative, stating:
We are a pro-life community and we live in the strongest pro-life state in the nation. This ordinance has become about Mr. Dickson’s personal agenda and his private right of action. The main question I have is how many lawsuits has he filed? This ordinance is supposedly in 60+ communities; so how’s he coming with protecting life by filing private rights of action in those communities? I pray the Lord bless MLD and traveling mercies over him. Adios.
For over a year, Mayor Stanley and Councilman Scherlen have attacked the private right of action found in the SCFTU Ordinances and the Texas Heartbeat Act. As reported by The Dallas Morning News, Councilman Sherlen “has previously likened the ordinance to Nazi Germany in World War II and said he could not support neighbors turning in neighbors.”
Councilman Sherlen also told CNN last year: “Last time we saw something like this was during World War II when Hitler was asking neighbors to turn neighbors in during the war, especially towards the Jews . . . And I just don’t propose liking to see a neighbor turn in a neighbor, particularly in America.”
While several residents have shared with their elected officials that the Republican Party of Texas 2024 Party Platform supports “the right of Texas municipalities to protect mothers and their preborn children in their communities by passing enforceable city ordinances that further ban abortions within their city limits, closing loopholes in state abortion laws” and supports extending “the private cause of action used in the Texas Heartbeat Act to all pro-life laws and policies in Texas,” Mayor Stanley and Councilman Sherlen appear to have remained unmoved in their position.
Conservative of Texas, Est. 2019 co-founder Alex Deanda shared:
I have known Cole for over 25 years. Before he was ever my Mayor, he was my friend. I still consider him as my friend, I just believe he has missed the mark on this one. It grieves my Spirit that Cole would take this position, which is in direct opposition to the efforts of the leading pro-life leaders and organizations in our state and our nation.
Deanda continued:
In regards to just how effective these ordinances are, history really is misinformation’s kryptonite. Just look at what happened to Planned Parenthood in Lubbock. They were performing abortions, Lubbock voters passed a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance with this private right of action, the ordinance was challenged in federal district court and the City of Lubbock won – Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, lost and stopped performing abortions. The Heartbeat Act, containing the same private right of action, had similar results – causing abortion clinics throughout Texas to relocate to New Mexico. These laws using private rights of action have saved lives. The fact that Cole is mocking such laws, when these laws have saved so many lives, does not make much sense.
The use of the private right of action found in both the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Ordinances and the Texas Heartbeat Act is what has saved a multitude of lives throughout the State of Texas. It is also one of the main issues that Candy Gibbs, the executive director of Hope Choice Pregnancy Centers, seems to have with the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Ordinances.
On November 11, six days after Prop A failed, Gibbs posted Episode 27 of the Candy Gibbs Podcast titled “Sanctuary City for the Unborn.” During her podcast, which contained a multitude of inaccurate statements, Gibbs emphasized her major issue with the ordinance:
My issue was with the section on the private right of action and, I want you to know, I did understand it. I have had many conversations with all of the local representatives of the ordinance, many conversations with people that I respect and love. We talked through this section of the ordinance. I just don’t want you to think that I didn’t agree with this because I didn’t understand it. I did understand it. What this section says is that if anyone aids or abets a woman in getting an abortion in another state that person could have a private right of action brought against them – basically they could be civilly sued.
This was not the first time Gibbs publicly criticized the ordinance. On May 28, Hope Choice posted on Facebook, “The petition for the Sanctuary City for the Unborn will be discussed at today’s City Council meeting. If you’ve wondered where Hope Choice stands … follow the link below and tune in LIVE at 3pm!” The pregnancy center’s post was shared by Gibbs, who encouraged her followers to “Tune in live at 3pm!!”
During her twenty-two minute speech before the Amarillo City Council, Gibbs expressed three issues she had with the proposed SCFTU Ordinance: The proposed ordinance’s support of Texas’ Alternatives to Abortion (Thriving Texas Families) program and the funds that are distributed to pregnancy centers across the state through organizations like the Texas Pregnancy Care Network, telling people they could not drive others to an abortion facility in another state, and the law not exempting parents and grandparents from being sued – if they were to assist in their daughter’s or granddaughter’s abortion.
These statements made by Gibbs came after she and the Board of Directors of Hope Choice had received a letter from Thomas Glessner, president and founder of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA). NIFLA represents more than 1,700 pregnancy centers across America. Over 120 of those clinics are in Texas, including Hope Choice in Amarillo. The letter from NIFLA, dated May 24, stated, “NIFLA fully supports the proposed Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance which was brought forth by the citizen initiative petition in your city.”
The letter continued:
NIFLA does not support and strongly opposes any changes to the ordinance that would add exceptions absent from any other Texas abortion law, as this would be inconsistent with state law and could have a detrimental effect across the state and the nation. If such an exception were to be added, it would also create a situation where pro-life leaders and organizations from across the state and the nation would likely feel compelled to weigh in on the matter and publicly address those who are advocating for such exceptions.
Gibbs appeared to further disregard the warning from NIFLA that the exceptions she mentioned “could have a detrimental effect across the state and the nation” on May 30, as she shared the video of her speech before the city council on Facebook, stating, “If you haven’t had the chance to watch this week’s council meeting regarding the petition for the Sanctuary City for the Unborn, you can watch below to hear my thoughts and my heart.”
This statement was made after Gibbs was approached by several members of the community in an attempt to hold her accountable to standing with the Texas Heartbeat Act, the Alternatives to Abortion program, and the proposed SCFTU Ordinance. Statements like these have led many to believe that Candy Gibbs does not really understand or does not really support the private right of action found in the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Providing commentary on the Texas Heartbeat Act, Texas Values said the law “has a private enforcement mechanism that empowers anyone to sue abortionists and other participants in an illegal abortion, rather than having the government enforce such a violation. Ever since the law has gone into effect, virtually all abortions in Texas have been brought to a halt.” After reporting on how the law has survived multiple challenges for using the private right of action, the conservative organization said “the law has remained enforceable and in effect, thus saving the lives of tens of thousands of babies who would have otherwise been killed by abortion in Texas.”
Texas Values went on to say, “Even before it took effect—and certainly after—the pro-abortion lobby went into a fit of hysterics and launched into a barrage of legal attacks, with little success at stopping it. The attacks have been multifaceted, and the legal webs are complex, but the abortion lobby’s attempts at the trial level, district court level, the court of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court have turned up empty-handed.”
Despite the defeat of Prop A, the effort to end abortion trafficking in Amarillo is far from over. The SCFTU Initiative, Texas Right To Life, Project Destiny Amarillo, and a multitude of other pro-life organizations intend to keep fighting for life in Amarillo and against abortion trafficking throughout the Texas Panhandle.
This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.
