Amarillo City Council moves foward on special election ballot items

The Amarillo City Council Tuesday approved the resolution to order a special election that will encompass an abortion ordinance declaring Amarillo a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” and include four propositions to amend the city charter.

With the abortion ordinance at issue with the council since last year, councilmembers agreed to discuss the length of ballot language of the 18-page ordinance, which had previously been soundly rejected by a 4-1 vote margin in June, with councilmember Don Tipps being the only dissenting voice. After a brief discussion Tuesday, the council agreed by a 4-1 vote to change the wording of criminal to unlawful. Councilmember Josh Craft voted against the measure as he wanted to take more time to ensure that the ballot language was clear to voters.

Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life East Texas, who has been the face of the abortion ordinance in Amarillo and other municipalities across the nation, spoke about the changing of the wording on the ballot initiative.

"That was the only change that we were requesting; we just wanted the ballot language to be accurate," he said. "About 60 political subdivisions across the state of Texas, over the last five years, have put these ordinances on their city agendas, and the largest of those cities have actually put it on the ballots and they did not have a problem with that process. The descriptions were pretty much the same as here in Amarillo. It is a longer description than those other cities. While I would prefer it to be shorter, I do not mind the fact that it says more. All the information there is accurate. And if the voter is more informed, then that is only going to help us, not hurt us."





https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/2024/08/15/city-council-approves-election-for-charter-abortion-ordinances/74795761007/