On Monday, September 8th, the City Council of Leary, Texas (pop. 605) considered the “Ordinance Outlawing Abortion, declaring Leary a Sanctuary City for the Unborn” which had been tabled from their August 4th council meeting. In the interval between Leary’s council meetings, six cities passed ordinances further outlawing abortion: Douglassville (pop. 229), Como (pop. 758), Talco (pop. 492), Annona (pop. 288), Clyde (pop. 4,051), and New Boston (pop. 4,686). Mayor B.J. Martin presided over the meeting with council members Jeff Cowgill, Coy Lorance, Kent Markham and Jesse Mauldin, Sr., in attendance. Jesse Mauldin, Jr., was absent from the meeting. While many questions were posed at their last meeting about the pro-life measure, at this meeting there were no questions.
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Mayor B.J. Martin asked if the Leary City Council desired to make a motion on the proposed ordinance. At this time, Councilmember Jesse Mauldin, Sr., visibly shook his head “No,” revealing to the other council members just where he stood on the proposed measure. Councilmember Jeff Cowgill made a motion to pass the measure, but no other council member seconded the motion. Councilmembers Coy Lorance, Kent Markham, and Jesse Mauldin, Sr., were all completely silent. As a result, the measure died due to a lack of a second motion. Had the City of Leary passed the measure, it would have been the 83rd city in the nation and the 66th city in Texas to pass a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinance.
The ordinance would have put into place six provisions: (1) prohibiting performing elective abortions and the aiding or abetting elective abortions within the City of Leary, extending the private enforcement mechanism of the Texas Heartbeat Act from detectable heartbeat to the point of conception within the City of Leary, (2) prohibiting elective abortions on residents of the City of Leary – regardless of where the abortion took place, (3) prohibiting abortion traffickers from trafficking women, including minors, through the City of Leary for abortions across state lines,(4) prohibiting abortion-inducing drugs from being mailed into the City of Leary, allowing for private lawsuits against abortion pill distributors, (5) prohibiting criminal abortion organizations from doing business inside the City of Leary, and (6) prohibiting the transport and disposal of the remains of unborn children killed by an elective abortion by abortion providers outside of the State of Texas from being transported through or disposed of within the City of Leary.
The ordinance would have been enforced, not by law enforcement, but by giving private citizens the ability to file a lawsuit against any individual or organization in violation of the ordinance. The measure was supported by several legislators throughout East Texas, including Texas Senator Bryan Hughes – who represents the City of Leary.
After the council meeting, when asked about his vote, Councilman Jesse Mauldin, Sr., shared, “I don’t think I should be, or anybody else should be, telling women what they can do with their bodies. That’s like women making choices about what you can do with your body. What do you say then?” Councilman Coy Lorance shared, “I just think that we’ve got a DWI law, the state, why should we come in and make a DWI law for here? We are duplicating state law when there is too much government. The government‘s got their finger up everybody’s . . . nose.” When asked about the loopholes that the ordinance addresses that are not covered in state law, such as the trafficking of minors across state lines for abortions, Lorance said, “The legislature is full of highly educated people. They should take care of it.”
Bowie County Republican Party Chair Gary Singleton, who was in attendance for the meeting, was shocked at the decision of the Leary City Council.
Singleton shared, “I was very disappointed that the Leary City Council did not vote to make Leary a Sanctuary City for the Unborn, as other cities in Bowie County have done. Despite this loss, I hope the ordinance will soon be brought back before the City Council with a passing vote. We will pray that the Lord will speak to these council members. Their vote tonight does not represent Leary or East Texas.” Upon hearing the news, Pastor Roy Ford, who led the charge in the neighboring city of Hooks (pop. 2,769) on July 21st, shared, “God help us. Praying. Hard for me to comprehend this in Leary, Texas.” Project Destiny Texas, the organization which led successful pro-life ballot initiatives in Lubbock (pop. 266,878) in May 2021 and Abilene (pop. 129,043) in November 2022, shared, “Saddened to hear that Leary, Texas, rejected the opportunity to be a pro-life, pro-mom, pro-baby city.”
Of course, not everyone was disappointed in the council’s failure to pass the pro-life measure; some celebrated the pro-life measure’s failure. Ashley Thomson said, “Honestly, GOOD!! This is backwards thinking at its finest. Notice it is all WHITE MEN. Forcing a woman to give birth is not a sanctuary, it’s a prison. Glad people are using their brains instead of their religion,” while Ally Kingcade shared, “Never thought I’d be proud of Leary, but here we are.”
The effort to pass a Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance in the City of Leary is far from over. Many citizens of Leary are already talking about the need for the city council to re-vote, with some even going so far as to call for new leadership.
From Leary, Texas, to Texarkana, Arkansas, and beyond, those who wish to see their city pass an enforceable ordinance further outlawing abortion within their city limits are encouraged to sign the online petition.
LifeNews Note: Mark Lee Dickson lives in Texas and is the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.
