New Mexico city of Clovis moves toward becoming ‘sanctuary city for the unborn’

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the guest author.

On Thursday, the city of Clovis, New Mexico (pop. 38,567), considered an ordinance addressing abortion access within its city limits. After much debate, and overwhelming support from those in attendance, the City Commission voted 6-0 in support of introducing the “Ordinance Requiring Abortion Providers in the City of Clovis to Comply with Federal Law.”

The special meeting, which took place at the Clovis-Carver Library, was called by City Commissioner David Bryant, who had heard from about 30 people at a commission meeting a week prior, resulting in about 90 minutes of public testimony in support of the passage of the enforceable ordinance. At that meeting, no one spoke in opposition to the measure. After the October 6th meeting, Mayor Mike Morris shared with The Eastern New Mexico News,  “Given the landscape created by the repeal of the state’s law which criminalized abortion (2021 legislative session) and the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court in June of this year, I have serious concerns about the risks to public health and safety in our city.”

The special meeting held a week later resulted in 300 people filling the commission chambers in support. While only a handful of people spoke before the council, only one member from the community spoke in opposition.

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At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Morris and Commissioner George Jones questioned Commissioner David Bryant’s judgment for calling a special meeting before the next regularly scheduled meeting on October 20th.

While Mayor Morris was clear about his desire for the city of Clovis, stating, “We don’t want to be an abortion destination,” he also wanted to “avoid taking a misstep out of haste” and saw the decision as one which he wanted the “entire commission on hand for.” Since two female city commissioners were unable to attend the meeting due to prior commitments, Morris felt conflicted that their voice was not going to be heard at this meeting. Although many in attendance understood the Mayor’s position, the crowd was vocal about how many women showed up to support all of their commissioners in defending life. And while a discussion of tabling the ordinance until their next meeting was raised, Commissioner David Bryant and the majority of the 300 in the room stood their ground: they did not want to see the ordinance tabled, but introduced and moved forward.

Clovis resident and Physician Assistant Daniel Otero presented a letter from the Christian Medical and Dental Association, the largest Christian membership organization of healthcare professionals serving throughout the United States. The letter, which was signed by Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA, Senior VP Bioethics and Public Policy, addressed several “well-known short-term and long-term complications of abortion.” In closing the letter read, “Due to these inherent harms associated with elective abortion, both short-term and long-term, CMDA supports this ordinance, which, if adopted by the City Commission, would curtail the provision of elective abortion within the city of Clovis and thus protect the lives and health of the citizens of New Mexico.”

“This is why this is urgent,” shared Otero. “Lives are at stake.”

There is real concern in Clovis due to the abortion industry’s exodus from Texas. Since abortion is illegal in Texas under the pre-Roe v. Wade statutes protecting preborn children from the moment of conception, abortion provider Whole Woman’s Health is closing its facilities in Fort Worth, McKinney, Austin, and McAllen and is relocating to eastern New Mexico. Recently, Whole Woman’s Health President and CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller shared in Newsweek, “We’d like to be in a border community because so many of our patients in Texas have been displaced. [Eastern New Mexico cities such as] Clovis, Hobbs and Roswell would be closer to Texas but those are small towns and there’s not a lot of real estate.”

Evidence obtained in Hobbs, New Mexico (pop. 40,508), reveals that Whole Woman’s Health did find a building in that city, just four miles from the Texas border. Because Clovis was name-dropped by the same abortion giant, many in the community wanted to be proactive now rather than reactive later.

After hearing from several in attendance expressing these concerns, Mayor Morris shared, “We have a responsibility to look out for the overall health and safety of our community. We don’t want to be a place where abortion happens.” Morris asked the City Commission which course of action they wished to take. A motion was made to introduce the ordinance by Mayor Pro-Tem Chris Bryant and seconded by Commissioner George Jones, leading to a unanimous 6-0 vote by the Clovis City Commission.

The crowd erupted in applause, and a very emotional Mayor Morris shared with those in attendance, “Thank you for your support, and if I could be so humble to ask, would you please keep it up? Because things likely just got really really hard for me and these elected people, okay?”

While the ordinance is different from the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Ordinances which have been passed in 51 communities across Texas, Nebraska, Ohio, Louisiana, and Iowa, it is authored by the same minds and it is believed that the ordinance will accomplish the same goal: an abortion-free community.

New Mexico Attorney Mike Seibel with Abortion On Trial shared, “The people of Clovis and their passion have clearly displayed their willingness to protect women and children from an unregulated and unsafe abortion industry. This ordinance will effectively keep any abortion clinic from relocating to Clovis. The ordinance moved forward by the Clovis City Commission may not have the words ‘sanctuary city for the unborn’ in the ordinance, but the ordinance will accomplish that goal.”

The proposed ordinance’s three major findings state:

The City Commission finds that: Federal law imposes felony criminal liability on every person who ships or receives abortion pills or abortion-related paraphernalia in interstate or foreign commerce, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62, and all such acts are predicate offenses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, see 18 U.S.C. § 1961.

The state constitution of New Mexico does not and cannot secure a right, privilege, or immunity to act in violation of federal statutes such as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62, or to engage in criminal and racketeering conduct as defined by federal law.

The members of the City Commission are bound by oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the statutory provisions codified in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62 are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article VI of the Constitution and must be obeyed and respected by every person within the city of Clovis and by every judge in the state of New Mexico. See U.S. Const. art. VI (“[T]he Laws of the United States . . . shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”).

The proposed Clovis Ordinance Requiring Abortion Providers in the City of Clovis to Comply with Federal Law does not allow a business license to be issued to any abortion provider within the City of Clovis, unless that provider agrees to comply with federal laws. The ordinance states, “It shall be unlawful for any person or licensed abortion clinic within the municipal boundaries of the City, or any employee or agent of an abortion clinic licensed by the City, to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1461 by using the mails for the mailing, carriage in the mails, or delivery of: Any article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion; or any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”

Pastor Ryan Denton of Grace Covenant Reformed Church in Clovis shared, “The DNA of Clovis is God-fearing and pro-life. The overwhelming number of people at the meeting demonstrates that. We had representatives from over 30 churches in the area and almost as many pastors.”

Denton continued, “God hates the hands that shed innocent blood and He tells His people to love their neighbor. The pastors in Clovis are unified in this belief and, as shepherds of God’s flock, we will be faithful to the lives of this community which God has entrusted to us – both the born and the unborn. We don’t need any wolves coming into our city killing our children and traumatizing our women.”

Residents are looking forward to returning to the Clovis City Commission Chambers in the coming weeks where they plan on standing in support of their Mayor and City Commission when they cast their final vote adopting the ordinance.

Clovis is not the only city where the fight must be “kept up.” On Monday the Hobbs City Commission will be considering an ordinance similar to the one just moved forward by the Clovis City Commission – all in an effort to do their part to make their city a ‘sanctuary city for the unborn.’