Murchison, Texas: Sanctuary City for the Unborn
The Murchison City Council, Mayor, City Secretary, and Right to Life of East Texas Director Mark Lee Dickson.
Murchison, Texas, with a population of 606, recently became the 22nd city in the United States to pass an ordinance which outlaws abortion.
Right to Life of East Texas Director Mark Lee Dickson speaks before the Murchison City Council.
On Tuesday March 9, 2021, the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance was passed and became immediately enforceable with two mechanisms of enforcement. The ordinance establishes hefty fines for anyone who performs an abortion or aids and abets in an abortion. However, this public enforcement mechanism can only be enforced if one of a variety of different court rulings or determinations take place. The private enforcement mechanism, however, allows for the ordinance to be immediately enforceable.
The Murchison ordinance reads:
“Any person, corporation, or entity that commits an unlawful act… shall be liable in tort to the mother and/or father of the unborn child that was aborted. The person or entity that committed the unlawful act shall be liable to each surviving parent of the aborted unborn child for (a) Compensatory damages, including damages for emotional distress; (b) Punitive damages; and (c) Costs and attorneys’ fees.”
Therefore, someone who performs an abortion or aids and abets is liable to a civil suit. This acts as a heavy deterrent to anyone who would try to kill babies in Murchison. The ordinance also states that other non-parental family members of the aborted baby have standing to bring a suit against the abortionist.
The ordinance clarifies:
“The unborn child’s mother, father, grandparents, siblings or half-siblings, may bring a civil enforcement suit against a person or entity that commits or plans to commit an unlawful act.”
The ordinance does not make the mother liable to the public enforcement nor to private enforcement meaning that the mother of the aborted child cannot be fined and is not subject to a civil suit
The Murchison City Council, Mayor, and City Secretary.
The vote on the Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance was unanimous. The three-person city council consisting of Councilman Layton Gibson, Councilman Ken Baker, and Councilwoman Alisa Griffis were all in agreement - abortion should be outlawed in Murchison, Texas.
Mayor Bryan Wilkins stood in full support with the decision by the Murchison City Council commenting that Murchison is a conservative town founded on conservative principles. Therefore, the city council saw it fit to openly declare that the unborn are valuable and shall be protected in Murchison.
The people of Murchison crowed the city chambers and gave loud applause as the ordinance passed. No one spoke against the ordinance that evening. No abortions are currently being performed in Murchison, and now, they never will be. Despite the overwhelming consensus of the people and council of Murchison, several on social media criticized the ordinance.
Noah Pennington with Texas Right To Life speaks before the Murchison City Council.
Much of the criticism came from people from outside the State of Texas. One person from Guntersville, Alabama wrote, “"I’m so glad you force the existence of unwanted humans. Imagine if you knew your mother didn’t want you, but she was forced to have you anyway.” Another person from Tempe, Arizona whose profile picture on Facebook read, “Public School Proud” sarcastically said:
Oh no now the town's 50 abortion clinics will have to shut down!
This is the dumbest thing ever.
Got thump your bibles somewhere else.
When asked what he thought of the out-of-state criticism Mark Lee Dickson, Director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative, was quite skeptical of how real those people actually were. “I find it interesting that most of these trolls are not even from Texas and most only have a few hundred friends on their Facebook profile.” Dickson continued, “It makes me wonder if these trolls are even real people. It also makes me wonder if they get paid to troll conservative posts because, apparently, that is something that does happen in our world.”
Of course, Dickson acknowledges that not all the criticism comes from outside the State of Texas. But of the criticism that did come from within the State of Texas, it seemed to primarily come from larger cities nearby Murchison and not the conservative city itself. A resident from Tyler, located 35 miles east of Murchison, said, “you didn’t end abortion, you ended safe abortions. pathetic town,” (Informal grammar in the original). A resident from Palestine, located about 40 miles south of Murchison, said, “Imagine passing this in your town of 606 people and where there is no place to get abortions in that little s**t town.”
Based on their comments, one might wonder if these critics even realize that currently no surgical and medical abortions take place in their cities of Tyler or Palestine - despite the sizes of both of their cities. Tyler's population is 109,000 and Palestine's population is 18,712.
It also appears that such critics are unaware of recent statements from President Biden and Vice President Harris, who have said, “We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.”
Clearly, those who value life from conception until natural death must take action to ensure that the wishes of the Biden-Harris administration do not come to pass. Indeed, they will not succeed due to the courage of more than 20 cities.
Residents of Murchison and area Community Leaders take a picture outside of the Murchison City Hall prior to the historic vote to outlaw abortion in Murchison, Texas.
Murchison, Texas is located in Henderson County. Other cities in Henderson County may soon be considering the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance including Athens, Texas. Athens was home to the infamous Dr. Curtis Boyd who illegally performed abortions before the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.
Additionally, the citizens of Lubbock, Texas will soon be voting on the Sanctuary City ordinance on May 1, 2021. The Sanctuary City for the Unborn movement has experienced much growth in the past several weeks and is not expected to die down anytime soon.
It appears that more and more cities are recognizing what the recently cancelled Dr. Seuss wrote, “A person’s a person no matter how small” and taking action to make sure the smallest in their communities are recognized and protected from the ever-expanding abortion industry which seeks to “cancel” their lives.
Mitchell D. Cochran is a family life educator, a financial coach, and a biblical counselor. He is the cofounder of Hope Initiative Consulting, LLC. and is currently attending Calvary University for his M.A. in biblical counseling. Mitchell is active in local politics in Lubbock, TX, where he lives with his wife, Katherine.
