I sure hope the opposition to this gets all the support it needs.
Amarillo residents will vote on a so-called abortion travel ban in November, one of the few times Texas voters will have a say on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Supporters of the measure, who gathered 6,300 verified signatures to petition for approval of the ordinance, submitted their request to city officials to have it placed on the Nov. 5 ballot after the Amarillo City Council rejected it last month, per local rules.
Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley confirmed reports about the committee requesting to add the ordinance to the November ballot. Stanley said the request will be on the agenda for the council’s next meeting on July 9. The council will take a procedural vote, which Stanley said is expected to pass, so it will be officially placed on the ballot.
[…]
After the Amarillo City Council balked at passing the ordinance last year, residents began collecting signatures to petition to have the council consider the measure, and to place it on a local ballot if it wasn’t passed by the council. Last month, the council rejected both the original ordinance and an amended version that would have declared the city a “sanctuary city for the unborn” and prohibited using city roads and highways to seek abortion out of state.
Once the council rejected it, supporters of the ordinance were allowed to place it on the ballot for local voters.
“The people will speak and we will hear what they want,” Amarillo City Council member Tom Scherlen said. “Through our process, we will see which side wins.”
Scherlen added, “When it gets down to it, we live in a democratic society where the vote does count.”
[…]
Stanley said the council would still have a role in making sure the public is properly notified on the language of the ordinance, because there are differences from similar laws passed by other cities and counties in Texas.
In a statement, the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a local advocacy group that has rallied against the ordinance, said the travel ban had a “clear and resounding rejection.”
“We are deeply disappointed that the misguided initiating committee has chosen to ignore the majority of Amarillo citizens and our duly elected representatives by placing this unconstitutional ban on the ballot,” the group said in a statement.
I didn’t follow this saga, mostly because I was waiting to see how it ended. That still remains to be seen. As noted in the story, similar “bans” have been passed in other cities and counties, mostly but not entirely small rural ones. Amarillo’s a conservative Republican place, but its Council’s rejection of this ordinance in the past offers some hope. My hope is that the locals who have been fighting this all along get the support and resources they need to mount the fight they’ll need to have for November. Here’s the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance webpage if you want to learn more or give them a hand.