Conservatives push for ‘trafficking’ ordinances for abortion

September 2, 2023

Conservative activists in Texas have developed a new strategy to prevent abortions: making it illegal to use local roads to bring those seeking the procedure to states where it is legal.

Abortion critics in eastern Texas are targeting regions along interstate highways and near airports, urging local counties and cities to adopt ordinances that would effectively confine pregnant women in the antiabortion state, according to the Washington Post.

Pastor Mark Lee Dickson, who heads up Right to Life of East Texas, is behind the push to pass what he calls “trafficking” rules, which would empower citizens to sue those who transport women along local roads to seek abortions.

Abortion is largely banned in Texas after the state passed new restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

According to Dickson, trafficking occurs because “the unborn child is always taken against their will.”

The ordinance would not punish the pregnant woman, Dickson told the newspaper.

Llano, a city in central Texas, considered the measure last month but tabled the vote on Friday, according to reports.

Pastor Mark Lee Dickson is lobbying for municipalities to adopt anti-trafficking ordinances to prevent abortion.

Pro abortion protest in Austin, Texas — Abortion rights activists marched near the State Capitol in Austin last summer after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Roosevelt County Commission in Texas — In January, the Roosevelt County Commission in New Mexico voted to adopt an ordinance outlawing abortion, becoming part of a growing movement of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn.

Mayor Marion Bishop said the law would be difficult to enforce and is mostly symbolic.

“Is it absolutely necessary? No,” she told the newspaper. “Does it make a statement? Yes, it does.”

The Texas cities of Lubbock and Odessa are among those considering the trafficking ordinance, according to reports.

Dickson is also behind the push to create Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, which encourages cities and towns to adopt ordinances such as trafficking measures.

In 2019, Waksom, Texas, became the first city to join the movement, which now includes 67 municipalities spread throughout the Lone Star state, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, and Illinois, according to Dickson’s website.