{"id":239842,"date":"2021-02-11T16:41:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T22:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=239842"},"modified":"2021-02-11T15:22:37","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T21:22:37","slug":"texas-goldsmith-19th-sanctuary-city-outlaw-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/texas-goldsmith-19th-sanctuary-city-outlaw-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Texas city of Goldsmith becomes 19th in the nation to outlaw abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of Live Action or Live Action News.<\/i><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, February 10th, the West Texas city of Goldsmith (population 257), located about 20 miles northwest of Odessa, became the 19th city in the nation to pass an enforceable ordinance outlawing abortion within its city limits. Councilman Glen Henderson made the motion to pass the ordinance outlawing abortion and Councilman Robert Clinton seconded the motion. The vote by the full city council was unanimous.<\/p>\n

The City of Goldsmith is the second city to have outlawed abortion since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement<\/a> on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade,<\/em> expressing their deep commitment to ensuring access to abortion in every zip code. The city of Goldsmith is the only incorporated city in the 79741 zip code.<\/p>\n

The Goldsmith Ordinance states, \u201cTo protect the health and welfare of all residents within the City of Goldsmith, including the unborn, the City Council finds it necessary to outlaw abortion under city law.\u201d The Goldsmith Ordinance goes on to state, \u201cIt shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Goldsmith, Texas,\u201d and that \u201cIt shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly aid or abet an abortion that occurs in the City of Goldsmith, Texas.\u201d Abortion is defined in the ordinance as, \u201cthe act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0\u2018Safe space\u2019: 18th Texas \u2018sanctuary city for the unborn\u2019 passes ordinance outlawing abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ordinance does not<\/em> define abortion to include birth control devices or oral contraceptives, and the act is not<\/em> considered an abortion if it is done with the intent to \u201csave the life or preserve the health of an unborn child, remove a dead unborn child whose death was caused by accidental miscarriage, or remove an ectopic pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ordinance outlawing abortion contains both public and private enforcement mechanisms. The public enforcement mechanism (or \u201cdelayed enforcement mechanism\u201d) establishes fines against the abortionist and anyone who aids and abets the abortionist for any abortion which takes place within the city limits of Goldsmith. These penalties cannot be imposed unless the \u201cindividual seeking to impose the penalty . . . has determined that the imposition or threatened imposition of this penalty . . . will not create an \u2018undue burden\u2019 on women seeking abortions,\u201d OR the \u201cperson, corporation, or entity who committed the unlawful act . . . lacks standing to assert the third-party rights of women seeking abortions in court\u201d OR the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).\u201d<\/p>\n