Cities have a “wide range of powers” they can utilize to protect abortion rights, says the National Institute for Reproductive Health President Andrea Miller.
QUICK FACTS:
- Authorities in liberal cities of Republican states say they won’t adhere to abortion bans, according to a report from Axios.
- A city council member in Austin, José “Chito” Vela, recently designed a plan to permit abortion at the local level.
- Officials from Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston have contacted Vela in a shared interest in endorsing similar resolutions.
- Jason Rogers Williams, the Orleans Parish district attorney in Louisiana, has stated he “will not shift priority from tackling shootings, rapes, and carjackings to investigating the choices women make with regard to their own bodies.”
- Officials from Democratic cities in Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina claim abortion proceedings will not take priority or be severely implemented at the local or district level.
DEVELOPING SANCTUARY CITIES:
- 49 cities have enacted directives to ban abortion, 44 of which are located in Texas.
- ‘Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn’ is a pro-life organization supporting and aiding city authorities that offer unborn babies sanctuary from abortion measures.
- Yet, abortion bans “have not prevented people from accessing abortion,” says Fabiola Carrion, the director of reproductive and sexual health at the National Health Law Program.
- The National Health Law Program offers legal support for health-rights-related issues.
BACKGROUND:
- 20 San Fransisco Bay Area law firms recently joined together to establish the Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights.
- The coalition will offer free legal provisions for those wishing to terminate the life of their baby.
- Oakland, California, unanimously passed a resolution declaring the city to be a pro-choice sanctuary city on May 17th, 2022.
- In contrast, Lubbock, Texas, became one of the more prominent sanctuary cities for babies upon a ruling declaring an unborn child’s relatives could sue the abortion provider.
- Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) recently signed into law an abortion ban prohibiting abortions from the moment of fertilization, representing the strictest of such laws in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.
