City officials in San Clemente, California will consider a proposal that would ban abortion and declare the city a “sanctuary for life”.
The resolution defines the beginning of human life as the moment of conception and would make it the declared duty of the city to protect that life until natural death.
If passed, it would declare the city’s support for overturning Roe v. Wade’s recent move by the US Supreme Court and ban the city’s Abortion, Abortion Clinics, and Abortion Pills Act. The council is set to consider the resolution at its next meeting on August 16.
The proposal allows exceptions for women who lose their lives in the process of birth and women who are victims of rape or incest.
The resolution also states that man does not have the right to decide to end the life of the unborn.
Here’s an excerpt from a draft of the resolution wherein Knoblock references the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, and writes that it is the council’s duty to “honor and respect God” in regards to banning abortion:
“[T]he City Council of San Clemente, hereby recognizes and declares the full humanity of the preborn child through all states of life up and until a natural death and declares the City of San Clemente, to be a sanctuary for life where the dignity of every human being will be defended and promoted from life inside the womb through all stages of development in life up and until natural death.”
“We believe that life is God-ordained and God is the author and finisher of every life. No matter if at the beginning or at the end. As a city council, we will protect and sustain life at every stage. As we ask God to bless America, we first have to honor and respect God.”
More details of this report from The Daily Wire:
The draft of the resolution has predictably caused outrage among some people in the city. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 15 people were already slated to speak at the next city council meeting in what is sure to be a contentious debate.
Andrea Schmidt, Planned Parenthood’s public affairs project manager for Orange and San Bernardino counties, told the Times that the resolution itself was “extremely dangerous.” Schmidt also called the pro-life resolution “politically focused and scientifically inaccurate.”
San Clemente Mayor Gene James, who previously seconded the motion to draft the resolution, came out in opposition after reading it. “It appears to me to be a document that could have been written by a Taliban tribunal, and I’ll say that as a conservative, pro-life Republican,” James said.
The mayor reportedly contacted the city clerk, city manager, and city attorney after reading the resolution and asked if he could take back his seconding the motion and “just kill” the resolution, but he was told that was not possible.
Counsel Steve Knoblock, who proposed the resolution, hopes it will help start the change within California given the current trend in pro-abortion laws.
“The ultimate aim of the government is to protect the life and liberty of human beings, including the unborn,” Noblock said in an interview.
Sources: DailyWire, Los Angeles Times
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