(LifeSiteNews) — On November 24, Howard County, Texas, became the 14th county in the United States to ban abortion.
County Judge Randy Johnson joined commissioners Eddilisa Ray, Cash Berry, Jimmie Long, and Doug Wagner to vote 5-0 last Monday to declare the roughly 35,000-person county a defender of pre-born children.
Officially titled the “Howard County Sanctuary County for the Unborn Ordinance,” the measure outlaws abortion in the unincorporated areas of Howard, which is located 45 miles east of Midland and just over 100 miles south of Lubbock.
According to LifeNews, Right to Life Across Texas delivered a presentation at the meeting. Eleven county residents gave remarks during public comment, six of whom favored the motion while five opposed it, including one Democratic state representative.
Among other things, the 15-page ordinance declares that “abortion is a murderous act of violence that purposefully and knowingly terminates an unborn human life.” It also states that “all unborn children are human beings who are entitled to the full and equal protection of the laws that prohibit violence against other human beings.”
The ordinance specifically prohibits the mailing of chemical abortion pills and the aiding and abetting of persons seeking to abort their preborn children. It restricts other “abortion-trafficking” activities as well, such as the disposing of remains of aborted children.
Mark Lee Dickson, founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, told local media that he applauds the ordinance.
“This measure works to address some of the loopholes that we see in our state law. Loopholes that legislators are wanting to address in future legislative sessions — all surrounding the problem of abortion trafficking,” he said.
On November 17, Wolfforth, Texas, which is just outside Lubbock, became America’s 85th sanctuary city for pre-born babies, declaring nearly all abortions illegal within its boundaries. Similar to Howard’s ordinance, Wolfforth’s measure declared “abortion is a murderous act of violence that purposefully and knowingly terminates an unborn human life.”
Wolfforth’s vote came two years after the Lubbock County Commissioners Court passed an ordinance declaring the county a “Sanctuary County for the Unborn” in October 2023.
One year earlier in 2022, Lea County in neighboring New Mexico established itself as a “sanctuary” for the unborn. The state’s liberal governor, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, ordered $10 million in taxpayer dollars to build an abortion facility near the New Mexico-Texas border in an effort to lure pregnant women to the state.
Abortion is legal in New Mexico with no gestational limits, mandatory waiting periods, or requirements for parental notification. In April 2023, Lujan Grisham reinforced the state’s radical pro-abortion stance by signing a law codifying legal protections to kill babies in the womb and commit mutilating transgender surgeries.
The Lone Star State, meanwhile, has some of the most robust protections for the preborn in the U.S., prohibiting all abortions except if the mother suffers from a “life-threatening physical condition.” Pro-lifers point out that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is never medically necessary.
Texas is one of 12 states that bans all or most abortions. The abortion lobby continues to preserve abortion “access” via deregulated interstate distribution of abortion pills and legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel.
Liberal municipalities have responded by declaring themselves havens for left-wing causes as well. In 2023, the Dane County Board of Supervisors voted to make itself a “sanctuary for [so-called] trans and nonbinary individuals.” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed a law also in 2023 that made Minnesota a “trans refuge” state.