The city government of Springdale, Arkansas, voted unanimously on a resolution to declare Springdale a pro-life city.
The vote came during an August 5 city council committee meeting, KNWA reported.
“This is something that came about in the past few weeks when we were made aware that an abortion provider was looking at locations in Springdale,” said City Councilman Colby Fulfer, who put forth the resolution, KNWA reported.
“What we decided to do was put this resolution forward that points out that we are pro-life in the sense that we believe in life all the way from the beginning to the end,” Fulfer added.
City council members endorse a pro-life resolution proclaiming Springdale a pro-life city. A council member says the move sends a message to Planned Parenthood “respectfully asking the abortion provider to find another city.”https://t.co/z0622d6NcR
— Steve Goff (@sgoff12) August 6, 2019
The council committee forwarded the resolution to the next city council meeting, with a recommendation it is signed by the mayor. The resolution lacks any legal power. It is, rather, a statement of conviction by the city on how it views abortion and abortion clinics that want to provide services to local residents.
“We’re not trying to stir the pot. We are respectfully asking them to reconsider a location. It’s not a legally binding resolution that would prevent them from coming. We are simply asking them to reconsider,” said City Councilman Colby Fulfer, who put forth the resolution during Monday’s city council committee meeting.
More Local Governments Declare Pro-Life Stance
Springdale has company among other cities that have taken stances on abortion. Waskom, Texas, declared itself a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn,” Fox News reported. The Waskom resolution includes an ordinance that makes organizations that deal with abortions illegal within city limits.
Right to Life of East Texas Director Mark Lee Dickson presented the concept to the city council, believing the city was not doing enough on the issue.
“This is why we had to take things into our own hands and take it to the grassroots level,” Dickson told Fox News. “Due to the recent pro-life legislation in Louisiana being so strong and due to the risk of an abortion clinic one day moving to Waskom, Texas, we decided to do something to protect the city, which was passing an ordinance outlawing abortion in Waskom, Texas.”
Waskom borders Louisiana and is known as “The Gateway of Texas,” according to Fox News. Dickson said that an abortion clinic, in the past, was looking to set up shop in the city and would have attracted people within a 200-mile radius looking for abortions.
International Cities Turn Pro-Life
Verona, Italy, took similar action by declaring itself a pro-life city. The measures include having public funding for pro-life groups, a project that encourages pregnant women to choose adoption as a solution to unplanned pregnancies, and financial incentives for women who choose to keep their child, The Local reported.
The town council’s measure distances itself from Italy’s national abortion laws and says that Italy’s legalized abortion has encouraged the population to use abortion as a form of contraception, according to The Local. The motion also says Italy is missing six million children because of abortion.
The motion was put forward by Alberto Zelger, a member of the League party, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Italy’s abortion law. The law has made abortion legal within the first 90 days of pregnancy, since 1978.
Italy was already facing a pro-life trend. The law allowed medical professionals to refuse to do abortions due to religious or personal beliefs. Ministry data from 2016, obtained by The Local, shows that over 70 percent of gynecologists refused to perform abortions. The Local mentions that the number of those rejecting to do the procedure has only been rising since then.
Italy has one of the lowest rates of abortion in the EU, and the abortion rate had been decreasing for decades, according to The Local.
