What Are “Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn”?
The Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative is part of a growing extremist movement that uses local ordinances to chip away at abortion access and personal freedom, starting at the city level. Pushed by anti-abortion lobbyist Mark Lee Dickson, these ordinances are framed as closing legal loopholes, but they’re part of a coordinated strategy to criminalize reproductive care and intimidate those who seek or support it.
These so-called "sanctuary" ordinances don’t reflect the values of safety, care, or community. They’re designed to divide our communities, isolate pregnant people, and give everyday citizens the power to sue anyone they suspect of helping someone access abortion—even if that care happens outside city limits or even in another state.
Here in Amarillo, we saw what these tactics look like up close. But we also saw what happens when people refuse to let extremism take hold. Together, we organized, educated, and stood up for our neighbors. By doing so we made history—defeating the ordinance and becoming the first city in the country to reject an abortion travel ban at the ballot box.
This page exists because we know Amarillo isn’t alone. These policies are showing up in towns all across Texas and the country. If they’ve come to your city, or you’re worried they might, we’ve put together tools and resources to help you fight back. Because no matter where you live, you deserve the freedom to make decisions about your body, your family, and your future—without government interference.
Key Characteristics of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn ordinances:
Targets Abortion Access, Even Out of State
These ordinances are designed to stifle reproductive care, even if it happens in places where abortion is legal. They go as far as intimidating people for traveling out of state to get care or penalizing those helping someone else do so. That’s not just government overreach—it’s a travel ban disguised as local policy.
Weaponize Vigilante-Style Tactics
Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn ordinances use civil lawsuits as their enforcement mechanism. This empowers almost any citizen to sue someone they suspect of helping someone get an abortion (the same blueprint used in Texas’s SB 8 law). This creates a chilling effect on doctors, friends, family, and advocates alike. This isn’t about safety—it’s about fear and control.
Fueled by Extremist Activists, Not Local Communities
These ordinances aren’t grassroots. They’re part of a coordinated campaign led by anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, who travels from town to town trying to get these passed—often with little transparency and no local support. Voters are often misled about what the ordinances actually do, and communities are left to clean up the mess.
A Dangerous, Extremist Movement Masquerading as Local Policy
“This wasn’t just about Amarillo. This was about sending a message: we won’t let extremists write our local laws.”
The Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative might sound like it’s about community values—but make no mistake: this is a dangerous campaign of anti-abortion extremism that was created to chip away at our rights one city at a time. These ordinances are not the result of community consensus. They’re introduced quietly, often behind closed doors, and rushed through city councils before the public fully understands what’s at stake. The language is intentionally vague and the legal basis is shaky at best. The goal is clear: to open the door to community surveillance, encourage lawsuits between neighbors, and expand government overreach.
This effort is often disguised as cities exercising local control, in the hopes to avoid legal scrutiny and ignite copycat policies across the country. But these local abortion bans have national consequences by setting dangerous legal precedents, confusing voters, and spreading disinformation about reproductive healthcare.
At ARFA, we’ve seen firsthand how this strategy plays out, but also how it backfires when communities rise up, organize, and push back. Amarillo is proof that you can stop this kind of extremism—but only if you know what it looks like.
Mark Lee Dickson is the director of Right to Life East Texas and the architect behind the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement. And his mission? To outlaw abortion nationwide, one city at a time. A self-proclaimed “pro-life missionary,” Dickson has made it his full-time job to push anti-abortion ordinances into small towns across Texas and the country, relying on confusion, fear, and misinformation to get it done.
His strategy is simple but dangerous:
Pressure city officials behind closed doors.
Find a local to latch on to in order to appear like a part of the community.
Pressure local churches to hosting him as a guest speaker or offering to hold an interest meeting
Use intentionally vague legal language that’s hard to understand and even harder to fight.
Exploit legal gray areas to spread chaos and avoid accountability.
Who is Mark Lee Dickson?
Dickson often misleads local leaders, telling them these bans are symbolic, when in reality they open the door to lawsuits, surveillance, and restrictions on travel and health care. He’s not acting alone—his work is backed by big dollar donors from anti-abortion and extremist groups looking for footholds in local governments.
This isn’t community-driven policymaking. It’s a calculated campaign of right-wing legal experimentation aimed at undermining abortion rights, silencing dissent, and reshaping the law from the ground up.
In Amarillo, we said no. We saw through the lies, we organized our people, and we stopped the ordinance in its tracks. Now, we’re making sure other communities have the tools to do the same.
Want a look into Mark Lee Dickson and the fight in Amarillo?
Watch this short feature from NBC Stay Tuned to see how he operates—and how Amarillo fought back.
This was never just about abortion. It’s about government overreach, upholding our constitutional rights, and standing up to a network of religious extremists who are using small towns as test labs for their national agenda. And, more importantly, it’s about what kind of future we want to build for our communities.
The Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement is not about protecting life—it’s about controlling people. These ordinances try to chip away at our most basic freedoms: the right to speak and travel freely, to keep personal medical decisions private, to raise our families without fear, and to live without the government in our most private moments.
They’re designed to confuse and silence people. To divide neighbors. To make us feel alone.
But we are not alone.
How Amarillo Fought Back - AND WON!
We’ve seen what happens when people stand up, speak out, and organize together. We’ve seen how even in a place like Amarillo—where people often feel overlooked or written off—we can make history.
When our rights are under attack, it’s on all of us to fight back. Not with fear, but with hope. Not with hate, but with solidarity.
Because what’s happening is not just a local issue. It’s part of a national playbook—and the only thing that stops it is people like us refusing to back down.
Beating Prop A at City Council
When the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement came to Amarillo, it showed up quietly: in a single Facebook post. In July 2023, anti-abortion extremist Mark Lee Dickson held a recruitment meeting at a local megachurch—but unfortunately for him, our community was paying attention. Protesters showed up that night, and from there, ARFA was born.
Over the next few months, we organized—fast. We rallied Amarilloans to speak at city council meetings, to demand our leaders reject this dangerous and confusing ordinance. People from across political lines, faith backgrounds, and walks of life made their voices heard.
Even when the petition initiative forced the ordinance back onto the agenda, we didn’t back down. We packed the room. We told our stories. We reminded our elected officials who they serve—and it worked!
In June 2024, the Amarillo City Council voted the ordinance down in a 4–1 decision. It was a huge win for us, but we knew the fight wasn’t over
Beating Prop A at the Ballot Box
After city council voted the ordinance down, the petition committee forced a city-wide vote. That meant it was up to the people of Amarillo to decide. ARFA hit the ground running.
We knocked doors. We hosted events. We talked to our neighbors about what this ordinance really meant for our town. We answered hard questions. We broke down legal jargon. We made zines, yard signs, TikToks, and postcards. We worked around the clock, because we knew what was at stake.
And on November 5, 2024, Amarillo made history.
We became the first city in the U.S. to defeat a Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance at the ballot box.
It took thousands of conversations. It took hope. It took guts. But we showed that when you organize from the ground up—and refuse to let fear win—you can beat extremism, even in the places they think they’ve already conquered.
In The Press:
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![ARFA press coverage – Amarillo voters defeat abortion travel ban ordinance led by Mark Lee Dickson]()
"The conservative strategy to ban abortion nationwide hit a wall in Amarillo."
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![ARFA press coverage – Amarillo voters defeat abortion travel ban ordinance led by Mark Lee Dickson]()
"It was a rare abortion-rights victory in one of the most abortion-restrictive states in the country..."
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![ARFA press coverage – Amarillo voters defeat abortion travel ban ordinance led by Mark Lee Dickson]()
"This time around, the right of access triumphed."
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![ARFA press coverage – Amarillo voters defeat abortion travel ban ordinance led by Mark Lee Dickson]()
“Texas city to vote on ban on people helping patients traveling for abortion.”
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![ARFA press coverage – Amarillo voters defeat abortion travel ban ordinance led by Mark Lee Dickson]()
"...Amarillo has become a prominent stronghold of the anti-abortion movement..."
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"Amarillo’s vote makes clear that people don’t want to spy on or tell on the people in their community."
More Coverage:
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“Amarillo voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a proposal that would have effectively made it illegal to use local streets and highways to obtain an out-of-state abortion — a stunning rebuke in a deeply conservative portion of the state for anti-abortion advocates that first proposed the idea.”
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“Amarillo abortion trafficking ban draws national backlash…”
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“Amarillo stands to be a ‘litmus test’ for the sanctuary city movement…”
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“The far-right wants to end out-of-state abortion. Amarillo is in the way.”
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“Keep abortion accessible for women in red states.”
Learn More
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Explore The Archives
Sanctuary Cities Archives
Dive into our collection of blog posts from the Prop A campaign! From real life impacts to legal breakdowns, get the community insight on how we stopped this ordinance in Amarillo. If you’re looking for research, language, or inspiration for your own organizing, this is the place. Click the link below to learn more about the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn ordinance.
Is Your Town Next? We Can Help.
If your city is being targeted, or you’re worried this ordinance is coming, fill out the form below. We’ll get in touch to support your fight.
