Voters to decide if Athens an 'Unborn Sanctuary'
Aug. 12—Editor's note: This article was updated Saturday, Aug. 13
A proposed ordinance which aims to prohibit any Athens resident from seeking an abortion, including out-of-state, was added to the Nov. 8 general election ballot for the City of Athens.
The Athens City Council called for a special election to allow residents to vote for or against adoption of an ordinance outlawing abortion and declaring Athens a Sanctuary City for the Unborn, after a certified petition requiring, under the city charter, that the proposed ordinance be added to the ballot.
"The city did not introduce or adopt this ordinance," Mayor Toni Clay said. "The City Council also has no control over the language on the ballot. The ordinance as it has been presented allows for any Athens resident to sue any other resident who in any way assists any person to obtain an abortion."
The City Council was presented with a petition in June, signed by at least 15% of the registered voters in the city, asking for the ordinance to be adopted. The council declined to pass the ordinance, setting the election process in motion.
The petition was sent to the City Council and included 1,122 signatures, an excess of the 1,074 required valid signatures, according to the City Secretary.
Athens Mayor Toni Clay explained that the city charter calls for the election within 90 days, but the Texas Attorney General's Office said it must be held during the next scheduled election, which in this case is Nov. 8.
The group Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn brought the ordinance to the council, which declined to put it on the agenda. The group then collected the required number of signatures on a petition to prompt one of three actions by the Council: To pass the ordinance, send the petitioned ordinance to the next General Election for voters to decide, or send it to the next general election, along with an accompanying alternative ordinance. The Council unanimously voted to accept the second option.
While there are no abortion clinics operating in Athens at this time, the ordinance extends to Athens residents seeking out-of-state abortions.
Clay said her primary objection to the ordinance itself is that it removes traditional governmental enforcement and instead hinges on a private enforcement mechanism which empowers Athens residents to bring suit against one another.
Right to Life of East Texas Director Mark Lee Dickson, however, said since the United States Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the ordinance may be enforced by the city, although some city governments, such as Dallas and Denton have passed resolutions to deprioritize the enforcement of abortion restrictions.
Dickson said the ordinance states: "Neither the City of Athens, nor any of its officers or employees, nor any district or county attorney, nor any executive or administrative officer or employee of any state or local governmental entity, may impose or threaten to impose the penalty described in Subsection (h) unless and until: The Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), and permits states and municipalities to punish anyone who violates an abortion prohibition."
Texas' abortion trigger law, which goes into effect Aug. 25 states: Under the law, abortion will be prohibited unless the mother has "a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places [her] at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced."
Critics of similar ordinances across the state call the Sanctuary for the Unborn designation political posturing as it only doubles down on existing Texas laws, differing from other recent sanctuary designations, such as immigration, which aim to create safe havens from state or federal laws.
Dickson said the ordinance is more restrictive than state laws because it would prohibit abortions from being performed on Athens residents, regardless of the state where the abortions took place.
"While abortion is now banned from the moment of conception across the state of Texas, the Sanctuary Cities for the Athens Ordinance Outlawing Abortion is more restrictive than the pre-Roe v. Wade statutes, the Texas Heartbeat Act, and the Life at Conception Act," he said.
"If passed, the private enforcement mechanism which is found in the Texas Heartbeat Act would apply from the point of conception, allowing private citizens the ability to sue abortionists and anyone who is found aiding or abetting an abortion for the death of an unborn child who does not yet have a detectable heartbeat."
The state's ability to enforce these laws remains in a gray area, according to University of Texas constitutional law professor Richard Albert.
"It is complicated because it's very hard to restrict the right to travel out of state," he said. "If Texas is planning to try to prevent residents from leaving the state, they have a very steep hill to climb because the Constitution makes it very difficult to impose restrictions on the right to mobility."
The residents of Athens will join Abilene, San Angelo, and Plainview in deciding if abortion is going to be outlawed in their city Nov. 8.
At least 10 Texas cities have denied the Sanctuary for the Unborn designation, according to sanctuarycitiesfortheunborn.org.
Early voting dates are as follows:
—Oct. 24 through 28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—Oct. 29 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
—Oct. 30 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
—Oct. 31 through Nov. 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Early voting will also be available at Lakeview Assembly of God Church in Seven Points and First United Methodist Church in Chandler on the following dates and times:
—Oct. 24 through 28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—Nov. 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Early voting will also be available at the Henderson County Larue Complex on the following dates and times:
—Oct. 24 through 28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—Oct. 31 through Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rich Flowers contributed to this report.
