Amarillo City Council working on ballot language for 'Sanctuary City for the Unborn' ordinance

The Amarillo “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinance is one step closer to a ballot initiative election in November.

The ordinance was first initiated by the citizen committee in December. A sufficient number of signatures were collected and validated by the city secretary in May.

On June 11, the Amarillo City Council voted down the ordinance, which prohibits, from conception, both surgical and chemical abortions within the city limits; the transportation of an individual through Amarillo for the purpose of an elective abortion; and aiding and abetting the procurement of an abortion for an Amarillo resident, including with money or resources for the transportation.

The initiating committee then notified City Secretary Stephanie Coggins in late June that it had voted unanimously to “certify its desire” to have the ordinance placed on the ballot in November.

Coggins explained to the city council members at its July 9 meeting that the ballot language to be adopted is controlled by two sources: the Texas Election Code and the Amarillo City Charter.

The Texas Election Code requires that the city council determine the language of the proposition and that it be “in the form of a single statement and may appear on the ballot only once.”

The Amarillo City Charter requires that the proposal “state the title of the Ordinance and contain a succinct statement of its nature and purpose.”

Coggins presented sample ballot language to the city council for adoption as a resolution before August 19. Her suggestion was based on the Lubbock initiative that passed in 2021.

“The code of ordinances of the City of Amarillo shall be amended by enacting an ordinance outlawing abortion, declaring Amarillo a sanctuary city for the unborn, making various provisions and findings, providing for severability, and establishing an effective date.”

However, Councilmember Tom Scherlen raised concerns that the suggested language didn’t include anything about a “travel ban” in the ordinance. “The meat of the ordinance is the travel ban,” Scherlen said. He claimed that the initiating committee wouldn’t remove the “travel ban” when it was negotiating with the city council before its vote in June.

Councilmember Don Tipps, who voted in June against rejecting the ordinance, pointed out that the proposed ordinance doesn’t contain the words “travel ban.”

The 18-page ordinance, like many others passed in other cities and counties around the state, includes provisions to prevent abortion trafficking into other states like neighboring New Mexico.

Amarillo City Council will work with its legal counsel to craft the wording for the ballot proposition and vote on the resolution at either its July 23 or August 13 meeting.