Amid growing buzz over changing politics in the Rio Grande Valley, a South Texas mayor and city council expressed unanimous support for declaring Edinburg the latest “sanctuary city for the unborn.”
Last week, Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina and members of the Edinburg City Council signed a proclamation designating June 27 as “Pro-Life Apostolate Day.” Such a move would outlaw abortion in Edinburg amid a growing number of other Texas cities doing so.
“I want you to know, as the mayor—and I’m only one vote, we vote as a team—you do have my commitment that you will get this done,” Molina said.
All three councilmen were unequivocal in their support.
“This is something we definitely need to address and we should be looking into. I’m 100 percent behind it,” said Councilman David White.
“I support you 100 percent,” agreed Mayor Pro-Tem Jorge Salinas.
“I just wanted to say that I personally hear these stories that you talked about every day as a funeral director, and I actually worked a few years back with the state when they were trying to remove … abortion,” added Councilman Johnny Garcia.
“I went up to the state Capitol to defend these unborn children, so I know what it’s about,” Garcia said. “But the key thing is that as spiritual leaders of our community, as a council and the mayor, our job is also to pray for those children and also for the families, that the Lord [will] continue to give us the strength to battle for those kids that cannot speak for themselves.”
The Holy Family Church of Edinburg released a statement celebrating the proclamation:
“On June 15th, The Edinburg City Council via a proclamation recognized those individuals that have been battling against the culture of death—death of our unborn, and those that could not help themselves. The City Council committed to support making the City of Edinburg a sanctuary City for the unborn.”
The church said their next step is to petition the city for an ordinance outlawing abortion.
There are currently no abortion clinics in Edinburg, but Edinburg would be the first city in the Rio Grande Valley to outlaw abortion.
The move to outlaw abortion in Edinburg comes on the heels of a former Hidalgo County GOP chair winning the mayorship of McAllen, immediately south of Edinburg, earlier this month. Republican candidates led by President Donald Trump received historic support in the RGV during last November’s general election.
