On Tuesday, November 17, the City of Lubbock had a special hearing on the Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance, which would outlaw abortion within the city limits of Lubbock, Texas.
This was not a matter the mayor and the city council of Lubbock were willing to put on the city agenda for a vote—despite the clear will of the people.
As allowed by the Lubbock City Charter, several Lubbock residents came together, filed a petition, and collected several thousand more signatures than the 3,651 signatures which were needed to force the item on the agenda for a vote by the Lubbock City Council.
It is because of this effort by the citizens of Lubbock that this hearing was made possible.
Prior to the council meeting, a total of 498 comments were emailed in. Of those 498 comments, 22 were in favor of the ordinance, 473 were against, and three of the comments were unable to be determined by city staff.
The city council meeting started at 5:00 p.m. and ended the next morning at 12:21 a.m. Over 150 people signed up to speak—an overwhelming majority were in favor of the ordinance—and public comments lasted over five and a half hours.
Members from West Texas For Life, Lubbock Area Republican Women, Raiders Defending Life, Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech, Project Destiny, Right To Life of East Texas, Texas Right To Life (the largest and oldest pro-life group in the State of Texas), and many other groups were all there in favor of city council passing the ordinance to outlaw abortion within the city limits.
Council looked down on the pro-life groups in attendance and scoffed at the idea of ever using Jonathan F. Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas, as someone who they would ever consider having represent the city if they were sued over the passing of this ordinance. Why wouldn’t they use him? Because they would never use an attorney recommended by Texas Right to Life.
I presented council with a letter from attorneys across the state of Texas who are in support of the ordinance, reminding them that there are many different legal opinions out there on this issue.
I did not labor the point of the wisdom of the City of Lubbock reaching out to Olson & Olson, a law firm that has ties to Planned Parenthood, but I have included here a letter from John Pisciotta from Pro-Life Waco regarding this matter. Later in the night, council mocked us by saying that Olson & Olson was not good enough for us.
I also reminded council of a letter they received from state lawmakers who were in support of them passing this very constitutional and very enforceable ordinance. They mocked the state lawmakers and accused them of making this nothing more than a political stunt.
Each member of the city council also received a medical-grade 12-week-old fetal model. They appeared to ignore it completely.
In fact, they seemed to ignore everything—even the ordinance which they appeared to misunderstand and misquoted throughout the night.
Despite all the testimonies, all of the Scriptures which were shared, and all of the pleas to do what was right, nothing was able to convince them to prevent the murder of innocent children in Lubbock.
The mayor and council members were convinced that Roe v. Wade was not just a Supreme Court opinion, but that Roe v. Wade really is the law of the land—that abortion is a constitutional right.
By the end of the meeting, city council voted down the ordinance 7-0. Because of this vote, the council members have spoken: unborn children can be murdered in Lubbock.
Councilman Randy Christian thanked his fellow council members and the mayor in his closing comments for the night, as he referred to the night as one that would definitely “go down in the history books.”
However, do not think for one moment that this is over.
Because we went the route of the Lubbock City Charter Initiative and Referendum, and since the city council voted down the ordinance, we will get to see this ordinance go for a vote by the citizens at an upcoming election.
The fight for life continues in Lubbock.
This is a commentary republished with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.
