I have a challenge for the Lubbock City Council. If Waskom can do it, why can’t we?
On June 13th, Waskom Texas, a small town of about 2,200 residents, passed an ordinance to make their town the first sanctuary city for the unborn. At first glance I wondered why this was necessary, because the town does not have any abortion providers.
But after reviewing the decision, the citizen’s concerns are quite reasonable.
A large abortion facility across the border in Shreveport, Louisiana, has suggested in the past if abortion regulations become too strict in Louisiana they could move to Waskom.
Stricter laws are now being passed. The Louisiana governor has signed a bill banning abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat; it is being mandated that a woman seeking an abortion be given the doctor’s board certifications, malpractice insurance and whether there are any disciplinary actions being taken against him. Also, clinics will be required to keep records longer on patients who were under 18 at the time of their abortion, reportedly to protect possible abuse victims. Opponents to the measure claim information on the doctor will be lengthy and confusing to women, causing them to fear a safe healthcare procedure, and that keeping records longer will intimidate patients.
A showdown in Waskom appears to be likely.
It’s insulting to women to think they are not capable of reading and understanding a report on the doctor’s safety record. A doctor’s record would only be lengthy if there was troubling information in the report and then why would it not be in a woman’s best interests to know?
Dr. Duntsch is a Dallas neurosurgeon in the news this past week for operating on 38 patients. Reports say 31 patients were seriously disabled and two died. His patient’s families are horrified they were not able to make an informed decision. Abortion is not healthcare, it’s an invasive and potentially life-threatening surgery. Why not allow women to make an informed decision?
Most common reasons for an abortion include:
- Not being financially ready due to being in school or between jobs
- Not having the support of the father or not in a secure relationship
- Afraid of what her parents will think.
- To save a relationship, but few relationships survive an abortion.
Most women are forced to consider abortion through fear. It’s criminal to deny her the information she needs. This attitude that women are not capable of dealing with a pregnancy without abortion and that they can’t handle the truth, is extremely demeaning to women.
I’m going to take it a step further. Reproductive freedom is supposed to mean a woman can have casual sexual relationships like a man and avoid the possible consequences of pregnancy. Women aren’t like men! They approach relationships more seriously and have an instinctive desire to protect a child. Obviously this is a generalization that does not apply to everyone. Since the availability of abortion has increased, many women are feeling pressured to have sexual relationships they do not want because there is supposedly no risk involved. A woman rarely skips into an abortion clinic proud and happy that she is exercising her reproductive freedom. Despite reproductive freedom, the responsibility is all hers. She will bear the pain of the procedure and the guilt that more often than not follows. Oh, she may be relieved it’s over, but allowing her to go through this is not a gift we are giving her. Women usually go into or leave abortion clinics crying.
People choose abortion out of fear and ignorance and the members of the abortion industry want to keep it that way. Most women, if they know the reality of the existence of the baby and they know there are resources to help, would not choose to abort.
In regard to the claim women who abort their children avoid abusing the child, Psychiatrist Phillip Ney, a leading authority on abortion and child abuse, has studied abortion and child abuse extensively and reports the opposite is true. A parent who has aborted a child is more likely to abuse a subsequent child. It’s not true a woman or a couple who has a child in difficult circumstances will not love and care for the child.
Back to Waskom, Texas.
Dr. Ivy Shelton of First Baptist Church in Waskom points out that God “knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13-16), “Before I (God) formed you in the mother’s womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5), and in Ex. 21:22 states if a man causes a pregnant woman to deliver early and the baby dies, he is subject to, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” under Mosiac law, indicating God’s value on the life of an unborn child.
Rusty Thomas, director of Operation Rescue and Operation Save America said death is capital punishment and aborting babies without due process is unconstitutional. Harvard Law Journal has recently reported an unborn child is a person under the law. Therefore, unborn children have rights. Waskom is within its rights to ignore an unjust ruling (Roe vs. Wade). By offering support and assistance to women with unplanned pregnancies Waskom is respecting life and women.
Lubbock. Texas, also does not have any overtly operating abortion clinics. The last one succumbed with the law that the clinic’s doctor must have admitting privileges at a hospital in case of emergencies. Lubbock should also be a sanctuary city. We have the resources to help women choose life. We have excellent healthcare, counseling, social agencies, adoption agencies, churches and caring people. How about it city council? Lubbock is a great place to live.