NEWS

Texas legislators were not the only state legislators in support of these measures. In October 2023, Senators and Representatives across New Mexico also signed a letter supporting the effort as well. The letter stated: 

Since September 2021, when the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect, we have seen over 1,000 abortions per month come into the State of New Mexico from the State of Texas. Not only has this influx of abortions caused the deaths of many innocent Texans, but it is putting an extreme burden on our limited healthcare system in New Mexico. This may lead to a significant health crisis in the State of New Mexico if reasonable measures are not passed on abortion trafficking within the State of Texas, as our health system cannot handle the significant number of emergencies that are the result of the influx of approximately 11,000 Texas abortions per year. 

As state legislators we stand concerned about the impact this has on the health, safety, and enjoyment of life of the residents of New Mexico and those who are visiting from the state of Texas. While the ordinances passed in our cities and counties in New Mexico are different from the ordinances which have been passed in cities and counties throughout Texas, our communities are seeking to do as much as they possibly can to protect our communities under the leadership and the laws of the State of New Mexico. We are doing this despite facing overwhelming opposition from state leaders who are in lock-step with the most pro-abortion administration in the history of America. 

Of course, we cannot fight the Biden Administration’s radical abortion agenda alone. This is why it is a great encouragement to us that allies across the New Mexico-Texas border are considering proposals which would prohibit abortion trafficking into New Mexico. While we will never stop fighting for unborn life on our turf in New Mexico, the victory is made more achievable when cities and counties in Texas are doing their part to defend innocent human life as well. 

Signers of the letter included: Senators David Gallegos (SD 41), Pat Woods (SD 7), and Greg Schmedes, M.D. (SD 19), and Representatives John Block (HD 51), Andrea Reeb (HD 64), James Townsend HD 54), and Jennifer Jones (HD 32). 

In May 2024, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), an organization that exists to protect life-affirming pregnancy centers targeted by pro-abortion groups and legislation, wrote a letter in support of the Amarillo SCFTU Ordinance. In his letter, President and Founder Tom Glessner shared, 

NIFLA fully supports the proposed Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance which was brought forth by the citizen initiative petition. While the pre-Roe v. Wade Statutes, the Texas Heartbeat Act, and the Human Life Protection Act have all made a great impact in reducing abortions and empowering mothers to choose life, there is still work to be done in Texas. Under the laws of the State of Texas, it is not illegal for an abortion to be performed on a Texas resident outside the State of Texas. And, under the laws of the State of Texas, it is not illegal for someone to drive a Texas resident to get an abortion outside the State of Texas. Every day, pregnant mothers are being driven across state lines for the purpose of obtaining a legal abortion. Every day, unborn children are losing their lives. This ordinance attempts to close some of these loopholes by prohibiting abortions performed on residents of Amarillo across state lines and by prohibiting the abortion trafficking of unborn children across state lines.

In May 2024, Alliance for a Safe Texas, an organization that exists to inform and educate Texans about the consequences of mass immigration, open border policies, and failures to combat dangerous crimes in Texas communities, wrote a letter in support of the Amarillo SCFTU Ordinance. President Sheena Rodriguez wrote, “Like most areas across Texas, Amarillo has a serious problem. In the face of the evils of abuse and exploitation, we must do what we can to help save lives and safeguard our communities.” Rodriguez encouraged the passage of the SCFTU Ordinance “which would prohibit abortions performed on residents of Amarillo and the abortion trafficking of unborn children across state lines.” Rodriguez concluded, calling this a “necessary step” that will play a “pivotal role” in “helping to stop the further abuse and exploitation of women and children.”

In May 2024, Texas Right to Life, the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the State of Texas, wrote a letter in support of the Amarillo SCFTU Ordinance. President Dr. John Seago wrote, 

We urge you to pass the ordinance language supported by over 10,000 citizens of Amarillo that will serve as an effective and enforceable policy to save lives, disrupt illegal activity from pro-abortion organizations, and stand strong for all innocent human life. As proven in other cities, the recommended language from the Initiating Committee is legally prudent and enforceable. 

In June 2024, the Thomas More Society, the premier not-for-profit public interest law firm championing Life, Family, and Freedom, wrote a letter in support of the Amarillo SCFTU Ordinance. The letter, signed by President and Chief Counsel Tom Brejcha and Special Counsel Martin Whittaker, echoed their strong support of the Amarillo SCFTU Ordinance, as well as other city and county ordinances in Texas requiring compliance with federal laws that outlaw and criminalize the shipment of abortion-related materials. The letter read, 

These ordinances also extend the human-trafficking provisions of the federal Mann Act to encompass abortion trafficking, as it has long been a federal crime for someone to transport a woman across state lines for an immoral purpose. The Biden Administration is not enforcing the federal statutes that protect the unborn on account of its pro-abortion ideology, and it is even using taxpayer money to pay the travel costs of women on military bases who leave the state to kill their unborn children. 

Local communities that respect and value life should counteract these lawless actions and policies of the Biden Administration by outlawing abortion trafficking and codifying 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–1462 into their own law—and by establishing enforcement mechanisms that will ensure that these laws are obeyed…We want to emphasize three features of these ordinances that are especially needed at this time given the practices of our current administration. 

First. The Biden Administration is refusing to enforce the federal statutes that ban the shipment or receipt of abortion-inducing drugs and other abortion-related paraphernalia. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–1462. In light of the Biden Administration’s refusal to enforce this law, it is imperative that state and local communities enact measures to ensure that these federal laws are obeyed, consistent with the responsibility to enforce congressional enactments such as the supreme law of the land under Article VI of the Constitution. 

Second. The Biden Administration is using taxpayer money to reimburse the travel costs of pregnant women on military bases in Texas who leave the state to abort an unborn child. This appalling practice can be thwarted by local ordinances that outlaw abortion trafficking, and that prohibit anyone from transporting a pregnant woman through their city or county for the purpose of obtaining an elective abortion. A jurisdiction that enacts an ordinance of this sort would also have standing to sue the Biden Administration and seek an injunction against its abortion-trafficking policies. 

Third. The local ordinances rely on private civil lawsuits for enforcement, rather than conventional public enforcement by state or local officials. This immunizes a local jurisdiction that enacts such an ordinance from lawsuits because the ordinances will be enforced solely by private citizens, who will sue anyone that violates the prohibitions on abortion trafficking or the federal laws that outlaw the shipment or receipt of abortion-related materials. 

The Thomas More Society concluded their urgent letter, writing, “We hope you will enact this much-needed ordinance, which could be the very thing that saves your city from the pro-abortion industry taking it over more than it already has.”