GUEST POST: When we found out that our city council of El Paso, Texas was planning on making our city into an “abortion sanctuary” (or rather, a death destination) we knew that we could not be silent.  

The ordinance that our city council was considering had been introduced by two pro-abortion city representatives, and it intended to direct city officials and the police department to not “report or investigate abortion reports” and make such investigations “lowest priority.” As a group, we were against the proposal since it was based on misinformation. The ordinance was supposedly trying to stop investigations so that women would not be prosecuted for having abortions. However, Texas law says that it is abortion vendors who will be investigated — not the women who have abortions. 

Our Students for Life of America (SFLA) group knew that we could not sit back and allow this to happen so we decided to show our pro-life presence and sign up to testify at City Hall during a city council meeting on July 5, 2022.  

Around 100 people signed up to speak that day, and the general turnout for the meeting made the room overflow. There was a lot of tension in the room, too. Our city representatives looked nervous to be addressing this ordinance, and several police officers roamed about to keep the peace while we discussed and debated this hot-button issue.  

Abortion supporters and pro-life organizations had both showed up to speak, and when it was our turn to talk before the council as the Students for Life at the University of Texas El Paso, we spoke against the ordinance. We had three minutes to speak, and we tried to use every second efficiently. Our argument was that if there were no investigations into abortions, doors would be opened to the cover-ups of abuse and medical malpractice of abortion-seekers (although abortion is already medical malpractice). We also stated that the ordinance was based on misinformation and mentioned our local pregnancy resource centers that provide real help and protect women in unplanned pregnancies. To counteract the abortion presence in the room, several of our members also held signs that declared that we are the Pro-Life Generation.  

The local media was also present, covering the testimonies of citizens and interviewing several people, including our group. We shared with the reporter our basic concerns with the ordinance: it’s basis in misinformation (since women will not be punished) and the fact that it would go against our state laws.   

After four long hours of public commentary from both sides, it was time for our city council to vote on the issue. The vote was four in favor of the pro-abortion ordinance and five against the ordinance, with the mayor giving the tiebreaker vote. Thankfully, the ordinance did not pass, and it was a victory for life!  

In the end, all of the pro-life advocates present had protection by police officers when leaving the building because of the hostility and violence coming from pro-abortion supporters. Their acceptance of violence clearly doesn’t stop in the womb. However, that did not phase any of us since our beautiful city of El Paso, Texas will continue to protect the right to life of the preborn.  

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