Why a Texas Panhandle city hit pause on a proposed abortion "travel ban" -- for now

Source: Texas Tribune

Why a Texas Panhandle city hit pause on a proposed abortion “travel ban” — for now

Jayme Lozano Carver
Wed, October 25, 2023 at 5:13 PM EDT·6 min read

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The fault line was exposed this week. On Monday, Lubbock County officials rushed to approve the ordinance, being pushed by the same organizers behind the “sanctuary city” movement that predated the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. But on Tuesday, the Amarillo City Council took a deep breath and said they would not follow other local governing bodies in approving the ban.

“We know what Lubbock County did, we know what Odessa did,” said Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley. “I’m not satisfied to come in and vote on something just because I’ve seen somebody else do it.”

The so-called travel ban takes the sanctuary ordinances a step further by outlawing the act of transporting a pregnant person on county roads for an abortion outside the state. It would be enforced through private lawsuits filed against the people who “aid and abet” abortions, not the pregnant woman. Experts say it’s an effort to further restrict abortion access in Texas.

“This is an effort, one by one by one, to create a statewide ban against travel to other states, literally creating a reproductive prison in the state of Texas,” Wendy Davis, a former state senator who is now a senior adviser at Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, previously told The Texas Tribune.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/why-texas-panhandle-city-rejected-211356564.html