The “Sanctuary City for the Unborn Movement” has gained remarkable traction this year as one city council after another in Texas, Nebraska, and now Ohio have seen fit to firmly establish that their community will not welcome abortion in any form within its limits.
This could not be a better example of what a republican system looks like from the ground up. Just as parents across the nation are starting to get involved in local politics by confronting school boards on issues ranging from pandemic school closures to sex ed to divisive critical race theory, city councils in small town America are showing us what grassroots political action looks like.
The American citizen can never expect to be empowered at a federal level if they’re not taking matters into their own hands on a local level.
As Christians, we have a biblical mandate to do justice, and it was this mandate which inspired the sanctuary movement.
“I just want to be obedient to the Word of God,” Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn founder Mark Lee Dickson told CBN News about his inspiration, which came from Amos 5:15, “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.”
One of the most recent cities to join the movement and the first in Ohio, Lebanon, unanimously passed an ordinance to outlaw abortion in May.
“Sometimes being an elected official means you step out and you take a stand on things,” Lebanon Mayor Amy Brewer told CBN News.
While easily the most high-profile sanctuary city for the unborn, Lubbock, Texas, had a Planned Parenthood clinic that had just begun providing abortions at the time that the city passed its ordinance, Lebanon, like many other small towns that have banned abortion, did not when they passed their ban. But that’s actually the point.
“Without being pro-active, something like this could come into our community and we would be unable to stop it,” Brewer explained.
While the movement began in 2019, it has gained significant momentum during the beginning of aggressively pro-abortion President Joe Biden’s term, and this is no coincidence.
“President Biden has said that he wants abortion access available in every zip code of this country. We have our own zip code and we have a people that we want to be able to protect,” Councilmember Adam Mathews explained.
“You’re going to start seeing cities, townships, villages across the state passing these,” says Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis, whose phone started ringing off the hook after Lebanon’s ordinance was passed. “We believe counties, county commissioners will pass this as well.”
There are currently 29 sanctuary cities for the unborn in Texas and 2 in Nebraska in addition to Lebanon.
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