Amarillo voters reject abortion “travel ban,” a uncommon rebuke of anti-abortion motion in Texas

Join the We the Texans publication to obtain twice-monthly updates on our year-long initiative devoted to boosting civic engagement and chronicling how democracy is skilled in Texas.

LUBBOCK — Amarillo voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a proposal that may have successfully made it unlawful to make use of native streets and highways to acquire an out-of-state abortion — a shocking rebuke in a deeply conservative portion of the state for anti-abortion advocates that first proposed the concept.

The proposal, often called Proposition A, misplaced by about 20 proportion factors Tuesday evening, in response to unofficial votes.

Amarillo turned the primary Texas metropolis to reject an anti-abortion ordinance positioned on a citywide poll.

The vote shuts the door on the yearlong debate in Amarillo, which started when metropolis leaders hesitated to cross the ordinance after a number of conservative cities and counties handed comparable legal guidelines. The problem upended the Panhandle capital, house to greater than 203,000 individuals. Residents waited hours to voice their opinions on the ordinance at tense metropolis council conferences, digital billboards in favor and in opposition to illuminated roads, and either side held in depth campaigns to sway undecided or uninformed voters.

Abortion activists — who known as the ordinance unconstitutional and far-reaching — celebrated the uncommon win Tuesday evening.

Lindsay London, co-founder of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance, an area advocacy group that led the opposition in opposition to the ordinance, mentioned abortion is just not a partisan difficulty, and the outcomes present that.

“It’s something that touches all our lives, and we reject extremist government overreach,” London mentioned. “Particularly when it comes to penalizing support for travel, it violates our constitutional rights.”

London mentioned there’s a chance the ordinance may pop up once more sooner or later — when a brand new metropolis council is voted in.

“So we are going to take a breath, rest, and prepare for whatever’s to come next,” London mentioned.

Supporters promoted the ordinance as a solution to cease “abortion trafficking.” Mark Lee Dickson, the activist from East Texas behind the measure, outlined the time period because the act of serving to any pregnant lady cross state traces to finish her being pregnant or different types of assist.

Dickson, who led the push for the proposal in Amarillo and different cities and counties, mentioned the battle in Amarillo is “far from over.”

“It should disturb many that an ordinance in line with the Republican Party of Texas 2024 Party Platform faced such a defeat in the City of Amarillo,” Dickson mentioned in a textual content message to the Tribune. “Especially when such a measure had the support of state and national pro-life organizations.”

The crux of the controversy was how the legislation can be enforced. Amarillo residents would have been in a position to sue one other particular person for violating the ordinance, with awards starting at $10,000. Some mentioned it pits neighbor in opposition to neighbor. Tom Scherlen, a metropolis council member who can also be Republican, drew similarities to how Nazis enforced their legal guidelines in World Conflict II. Individuals would have been accused of violating it for a number of causes, together with by offering transportation, donating to abortion fund networks wherever, providing any info that may result in an abortion no matter the place the particular person giving directions is situated, or donating to somebody who was sued beneath the ordinance. Residents would have additionally been in a position to sue any particular person or entity who “intends” to violate the ordinance.

Amarillo’s vote is certainly one of few instances the place Texas voters had a say on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned. State legislation not often permits for direct democracy on such points besides on the metropolis degree.

The council, led by Mayor Cole Stanley, publicly doubted if they’ve the jurisdiction to enact a far-reaching ordinance comparable to this, which he mentioned pushes their energy greater than the opposite ordinances handed by Conservative cities and counties in Texas.

Stanley couldn’t be reached for remark.

After the Amarillo Metropolis Council balked at passing the ordinance final yr, residents started gathering signatures to petition to have the council contemplate the measure, and to position it on an area poll if it wasn’t handed by the council. The council rejected each the unique ordinance and an amended model, main the petitioning committee to search the poll measure.

Based on KFF, a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on well being coverage, abortion was on the poll in 10 states this election cycle. In 9 of these states, poll measures search to guard abortion entry whereas Nebraska has two measures — one to guard abortion rights and one to curtail abortion after the primary trimester aside from medical emergencies or if the being pregnant is a results of rape or incest.