Major City Set to Vote on Texas Travel Ban in Protest of New Pro-Life Law
The city council in Portland, Oregon, plans to vote this week on a proposal to ban trading goods and services with Texas and to bar state employees from traveling for business to the Lone Star State over a new abortion law that went into effect Wednesday.
“Mayor Wheeler announced today that the Portland City Council will vote on an emergency resolution next Wednesday, September 8th, with the intent to ban the City’s future procurement of goods and services from, and City employee business travel to, the state of Texas,” the council said in a news release on Friday.
“The ban will be in effect until the state of Texas withdraws its unconstitutional ban on abortion or until it is overturned in court.”
The release noted the health of pregnant women.
“This law does not demonstrate concern for the health, safety, and well-being of those who may become pregnant,” it said.
However, the council made no mention of the health, safety or well-being of unborn children.
“If passed, the ban will continue until the state of Texas withdraws the abortion law or until it is overturned in court. City legal counsel is currently evaluating the legal aspects of this proposed resolution,” Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
The Texas law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected took effect on Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to block the legislation, making it what one pro-life leader called “the strongest pro-life law in America.”
“Our Creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet, millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said when he signed the bill into law in May.
Under the law, abortions would only be permitted before a fetal heartbeat is detected, which usually occurs around six weeks into pregnancy, or for medical emergencies.
Abortion providers filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court to block the law from taking effect on its scheduled date last week. Because the court did not act, the law is operative.
The application claimed the law would “immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85 percent of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close.”
Pro-life leaders were enthusiastic.
“The Texas Heartbeat Act is the strongest pro-life legislation to pass the Texas Legislature since Roe v. Wade,” Kim Schwartz of Texas Right to Life told The Texas Tribune.
“This is a huge victory and could save thousands upon thousands of preborn babies. We look forward to the day that it’s going to be enforced — hopefully very soon.”
“The strongest pro-life law in America is set to go into effect tomorrow in Texas,” Live Action founder and president Lila Rose tweeted on Tuesday. “It would virtually ban abortions in the state and save the lives of thousands of children.”
BREAKING: The strongest pro-life law in America is set to go into effect tomorrow in Texas. It would virtually ban abortions in the state and save the lives of thousands of children. https://t.co/a81hoBAds8
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 31, 2021
Pro-abortion forces hoped to use the courts to stall the Texas law — also known as Senate Bill 8 — as they have in other states.
“I am confident in the constitutionality of SB 8,” Chelsey Youman, legislative director of the Human Coalition Action Texas, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Aug. 30.
“Texas has a compelling interest in protecting its most vulnerable from death by abortion.”
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