From the SFLA Blog

The Campaign for Abortion Free Cities Community Ordinance Efforts in Bellevue, Nebraska 

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Caroline Wharton - 09 Mar 2023
Guest post by SFLA Campaign for Abortion Free Cities Manager Kate Maloney

GUEST POST: We began the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities (AFC) in Bellevue, Nebraska with one of our goals being to establish a Sanctuary City for the Preborn — a place where preborn life is protected from the moment of conception. 

When we began to canvass this area, we happily found that the residents of Bellevue were very pro-life. Only 9% of those surveyed self-identified as pro-abortion while an overwhelming majority of 91% self-identified as pro-life. From this, we knew that these people want to support preborn life, women in unplanned pregnancies, and champion families with the support they need from the community — not abortion. 

Our calculated hunch was that this was a community which was ready to live in a city where its abortion facility was closed down, and this town’s particular abortion facility was the infamous CARE facility. The Medical Director of this facility — if you can call him something as dignified as that — is none other than the dangerous abortionist Dr. Leroy Carhart. 

Leroy Carhart

Carhart is currently being sued by two different women for medical negligence and negligence of informed consent (find out more HERE). When we alerted our community to the risks of being seen by a dangerous abortionist, we found that this community shifted to instead supporting and utilizing the local pregnancy resource center. The results of our 2021 canvassing data solidified that this community was ready for an abortion free Bellevue.  

In the midst of brainstorming and strategizing, we had the opportunity to work with Sanctuary Cities for the Preborn Director Mark Lee Dickson, who was able to bring with him not only his gritty work ethic but a host of volunteers to join in with Students for Life of America (SFLA) team members and students who were devoted to collecting signatures every weekend since December of 2022. 

SFLA Midwest Regional Coordinator Kyle Poen & community volunteers

Across the board, this community impact and potential win belongs to all the incredible volunteers, churches, and numerous local pro-life organizations who came together to reach into the heart of Bellevue and push hard towards victory. SFLA Midwest Regional Coordinator Kyle Poen said, “Going door to door in Bellevue, it is apparent citizens are ready to embrace being a Sanctuary City for the Preborn and put a stop to this catastrophic abortion facility in their backyard. The ability of grassroots volunteers to capture this amount of signatures shows residents require the City Council to take action immediately.” 

On Tuesday, February 28, more than 7,000 signatures were submitted to the Bellevue City Council, and if you’re reading this right now, the next best action you can take is to pray. 

Pray that the efforts of this resilient community are fulfilled; pray that we can reach our goal of making Bellevue a sanctuary city for the preborn where all life is protected and respected and where women and families are taken care of. We know that the residents of Bellevue want to pass local laws that reflect the makeup of the community and be the type of city that protects life in a post-Roe America.  

READ NEXT: Stop Gaslighting Women Who Lost Children: People Magazine Tells Jessa Duggar Her Miscarriage Was an Abortion   

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