City council in Missouri considers Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author. This post has been adapted from a Facebook post.

On January 6, 2025, in the City of Rolla, Missouri (pop. 20,423), the Rolla City Council discussed passing an ordinance requiring compliance with federal laws on abortion and declaring Rolla to be a Sanctuary City for the Unborn (SCFTU). My involvement in Rolla came after I was reached out to by several citizens who had an interest in seeing their city pass an ordinance protecting unborn children and their moms in a post-Amendment 3 Missouri.

In this post, I will address some of the most common questions regarding the effort in Rolla, Missouri.

Why should the City Council of Rolla, Missouri, pass a SCFTU Ordinance?

In 1809, Thomas Jefferson told Maryland Republicans, “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” The Rolla City Council has an obligation to preserve the safety, health, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, morals, and welfare of all inhabitants within the City of Rolla. This ordinance, which ensures the federal prohibitions on the shipment of abortion pills and abortion-related paraphernalia are obeyed, is the very least that Rolla can do to protect unborn children, their mothers, and their community in a post-Amendment 3 Missouri.

Are abortion-inducing drugs really a problem?

Abortion-inducing drugs almost always end the lives of unborn children and sometimes abortion-inducing drugs can even take the lives of pregnant mothers.

In a February 2023 letter to Walgreens, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey warned the pharmacy chain of the dangers surrounding dispensing abortion-inducing drugs when he wrote:

Abortion pills are far riskier than surgical abortions, according to established scientific consensus: ‘Medication abortions were 5.96 times as likely to result in a complication as first-trimester aspiration abortions.’ Abortion pills carry the added risk that when these heightened complications invariably occur, women suffer those harms at home, away from medical help.

And finally, mail-order abortion pills also invite the horror of an increase in coerced abortions. When abortion drugs are mailed or consumed outside a regulated medical facility, the risk of coercion is much higher—indeed, guaranteed—because there is no oversight. Outside the regulated medical context, a person can obtain an abortion pill quite easily and then coerce a woman into taking it.

Why is Rolla City Council considering this issue if the Supreme Court of the United States said this was a matter for each individual State to decide?

The Supreme Court of the United States did not say that the issue of abortion was only to be dealt with at a state level.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

Notice that the Supreme Court of the United States did not say that the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the States, but they said the authority to regulate abortion is returned “to the people and their elected representatives.” That is at all levels of government: local, state, and federal.

Amos 5:15 reads, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

If abortion-inducing drugs are being mailed into Rolla, it is not just a state problem but a local problem as well.

How many cities and counties have passed “Sanctuary for the Unborn” ordinances throughout the United States?

As of Monday, January 6, 2025, a total of 70 cities and 8 counties throughout the U.S. have passed ordinances going as far as they possibly can to protect pregnant mothers and their unborn children. The majority of these governments passed these ordinances through a vote by their Mayor and City Council who are the people’s elected representatives.

If passed, what would the proposed Rolla SCFTU Ordinance do and how would it be enforced?

The proposed Rolla SCFTU Ordinance requires compliance with 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62, which prohibits the shipping or receiving of abortion-inducing drugs or abortion-related paraphernalia, as well as 18 U.S.C. § 1531, which prohibits the performing or the aiding or abetting of a partial-birth abortion. The ordinance would be enforced through a private enforcement mechanism allowing private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who violates the ordinance.

The ordinance, which places the power to act in the hands of the people, cannot be enforced by the city or by law enforcement in any way. It should also be noted that the proposed ordinance is clear that no action may be taken against mothers who have received an abortion or pregnant mothers who intend to have an abortion.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance prohibit abortion?

While some describe the proposed Rolla SCFTU Ordinance as a de-facto abortion ban, the ordinance does not prohibit abortion or abortion-inducing drugs.

As stated before, all the proposed Rolla SCFTU Ordinance does is require compliance with 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62, which prohibits the shipping or receiving of abortion-inducing drugs or abortion-related paraphernalia, as well as 18 U.S.C. § 1531, which prohibits the performing or the aiding or abetting of a partial-birth abortion.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance ignore or violate Amendment 3?

No. The proposed ordinance does not ignore Amendment 3, but rightly recognizes that the Constitution and laws of Missouri do not and cannot secure a right, privilege or immunity to act in violation of federal criminal statutes such as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62 and 18 U.S.C. § 1531. In other words, federal laws trump the laws of Missouri and the Constitution of Missouri. Whatever the passage of Amendment 3 means for the State of Missouri, the passage of Amendment 3 cannot nullify laws passed by Congress that bind all 50 states.

What is Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s position on cities passing ordinances regulating abortion?

On December 16, 2024, Missouri Assistant Attorney General Dominic Barceleau shared before the Rolla City Council, “The Attorney General’s position is that State law does not prohibit cities from regulating abortion in a way that is consistent with state and federal law.”

According to the Rolla SCFTU ordinance, what is an abortion?

In Section 43.001, Definitions, the proposed ordinance gives the guiding definitions for the proposed ordinance. Abortion is defined to mean “the act of using, prescribing, administering, procuring, or selling of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the purpose to terminate the pregnancy of a woman, with knowledge that the termination by any of those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of an unborn child.”

Should the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance prevent doctors or nurse practitioners/midwives or other advanced practice providers from providing prenatal, labor, delivery or emergency care for pregnant women in Rolla?

No. Under Section 43.001, the proposed ordinance states, “The term [abortion] does not include… an act performed with the purpose to… save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child.” This means drugs shipped or received for the purpose of delivering an unborn childeither preterm or term– should never be affected by this ordinance.

Nothing in this proposed ordinance will change anything about the standard of care currently being provided by healthcare professionals in Labor and Delivery in Rolla, Missouri.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance impact the removal of an ectopic pregnancy?

No. Section 43.001 states, “The term [abortion] does not include… an act performed with the purpose to … remove an ectopic pregnancy, the implantation of a fertilized egg or embryo outside of the uterus.”

This means drugs shipped or received for the purpose of the removal of an ectopic pregnancy will never be affected by this ordinance.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance impact the treatment of miscarriages?

No. Section 43.001 states, “The term [abortion] does not include… an act performed with the purpose to… remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion.”

This means drugs shipped or received for the purpose of the removal of a dead child due to a miscarriage will never be affected by this ordinance.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance protect medical professionals who have no intention to violate the ordinance?

Yes, the proposed ordinance has built-in affirmative defenses for medical professionals who have no intention to violate 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–62, which prohibits the shipping or receiving of abortion-inducing drugs or abortion-related paraphernalia, or 18 U.S.C. § 1531, which prohibits the performing or the aiding or abetting of a partial-birth abortion.

Section 43.004 reads:

A defendant against whom an action is brought under § 43.003 may assert an affirmative defense to liability under this section if … The conduct which the defendant is being sued … was not intended to assist or facilitate the performance of an abortion; or was necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or when continuation of the pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

“Major bodily function” is defined in this section to include, but is not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.

Does the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance prohibit birth control, IUD’s, or emergency contraception?

No, the proposed ordinance does not even prohibit abortion or abortion-inducing drugs.

Still, the proposed Rolla SCFTU Ordinance goes out of the way to make clear that it does not prohibit birth control, IUD’s or emergency contraception. Section 43.001’s definition of abortion states, “The term [abortion] does not include … The use, prescription, administration, procuring, or selling of Plan B, morning-after pills, intrauterine devices, or any other type of contraception or emergency contraception.”

What if the City of Rolla is sued for passing the Rolla SCFTU Ordinance?

If the proposed ordinance is adopted by the Rolla City Council and the city faces a lawsuit as a result of the adoption of this ordinance, Attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell, the former Texas Solicitor General, has agreed to represent the City of Rolla, Missouri, at no cost to the city and at no cost to taxpayers for any litigation which results in their passage of this ordinance.

Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek:

Stop killing America’s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!