By Matt Dotray Lubbock Avalanche-Journal USA TODAY NETWORK
The Lubbock City Council will host a public hearing, followed by a vote, on the sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
The public hearing will take place during the next city council meeting, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Citizens Tower, located at 1314 Avenue K. Once the public hearing is closed, the city council may vote on the ordinance.
The city council scheduled the public hearing on Monday after approving a resolution from the city secretary related to the acceptance of the petition. The petition to bring the ordinance to a council vote was verified last week. Now that the city council accepted the results of the petition, it has 30 days to vote on the ordinance.
If the city council votes the ordinance down, the initiating committee that filed the petition, which includes State Sen. Charles Perry, will have 20 days to file a certified statement requesting the ordinance be put to a public vote.
Nineteen people were signed up to speak to the city council during the public comment period on Monday when the city council voted to set the public hearing. All were in favor of the ordinance. The item was on the city’s consent agenda, so it wasn’t discussed by council members prior to the vote to accept the petition and schedule the public hearing.
The citizens wanted to speak about the ordinance itself. But Mayor Dan Pope told the citizens they could only speak about the topic on the agenda, which he said was just the petition and the public hearing.
He said discussion about the ordinance itself will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
“At the public hearing, there’s passionate people on both sides of this issue, we realize that,” Pope said on Monday. “Nobody realizes that more than we do, because we hear from you, OK? And we read those emails.”
Two members of the Lubbock County Council could have brought this ordinance to a vote prior to the petition forcing it, but none chose to do so. When the ordinance was first sent to council members by Sen. Perry, the city hired the Houston-based law firm Olson & Olson to assist the city in reviewing the ordinance.
In mid-October, the city issued a news release stating the legal counsel said there were several legal issues with the ordinance. The city said the ordinance would be void if it passes because it contradicts state law.
The sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance states, “It 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 Lubbock, Texas.”
The ordinance also says it shall be unlawful for someone to aid and abet an abortion — the ordinance makes it unlawful to drive someone to a clinic for an abortion, to provide money with the knowledge it will be used for an abortion, or giving instructions regarding self-administered abortions.
It also says the abortion provider can be sued for emotional distress by a member of the unborn child’s family, including, grandparents, siblings and half-siblings.