Texas Town Becomes 84th City in America to Ban Abortions

On Wednesday, November 12th, the City Council of Marietta, Texas (pop. 115) became the 84th city in the nation, and the 67th city in the State of Texas, to pass a Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance. The “Ordinance Outlawing Abortion, declaring Marietta a Sanctuary City for the Unborn” passed in a 3-2-1 vote. The City of Marietta, located between Naples (pop. 1,378) and Douglassville (pop. 229), is the third city in Cass County to adopt a Sanctuary for the Unborn Ordinance. Marietta is also the 14th city and the 19th political subdivision to pass such a measure in 2025.

The Marietta Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance puts into place six provisions. These provisions prohibit: (1) performing an elective abortion and aiding or abetting elective abortions within the city limits of Marietta, (2) elective abortions on residents of Marietta – regardless of where the abortion takes place, (3) abortion trafficking through the City of Marietta, (4) the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs into the City of Marietta, (5) criminal organizations from doing business inside the city limits of Marietta, and (6) the transportation and disposal of the remains of unborn children who have been killed by an elective abortion across state lines and carried by waste management companies into Texas in and through the City of Marietta.

Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.

Marietta’s Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance is enforced the same way the Texas Heartbeat Act is enforced, through a private enforcement mechanism. The ordinance states, “Any person, other than the city of Marietta, and any officer or employee of the city, has standing to bring and may bring a civil action against any person or entity that: violates any provision” of this ordinance. The ordinance has a six-year statute of limitations. Marietta’s Ordinance is clear that “a civil action … may not be brought: against the woman upon whom the abortion was performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in violation of this ordinance, or against a pregnant woman who intends or seeks to abort her unborn child in violation of this ordinance.”

In addition to providing protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn children, the ordinance also educates members of the community on the Thriving Texas Families Program and the resources that can be obtained through centers listed on the Texas Pregnancy Care Network website at www.texaspregnancy.org and The Pregnancy Network website operated by Human Coalition at www.thepregnancynetwork.clinic.

The City of Marietta received a letter from Attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell, committing to represent the City of Marietta at no cost to the city or taxpayers for any litigation that may arise from the passage of their ordinance further outlawing abortion and abortion trafficking.

Other cities in Cass County which could follow the cities of Avinger (pop. 371), Douglassville (pop. 229), and Marietta (pop. 115) include: Atlanta (pop. 5,638), Linden (pop. 1,988), Hughes Springs (pop. 1,856), Queen City (pop. 1,476), Bloomburg (pop. 376), and Domino (pop. 200). Residents in cities and counties across the nation who are interested in seeing their local government pass an enforceable ordinance are encouraged to sign the online petition from the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.

LifeNews Note: Mark Lee Dickson lives in Texas and is the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.