Texas closed its abortion businesses, so the abortion industry simply set up shop across the New Mexico line.
In October, a West Texas town of 1,355 people moved to close the road that leads there.
Instead of a yes or a no, the city council voted 4-0 to make the unborn wait.
Plains Texas City Council Tables Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance
Plains sits in Yoakum County, a short drive from the New Mexico border.
That geography matters, because New Mexico has no gestational limit on abortion and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed laws shielding the abortion businesses that serve women from out of state.
Mark Lee Dickson, who founded the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative, told The Texan that 95% of the abortions at Whole Woman's Health in Albuquerque are performed on Texas residents.
Right to Life Across Texas brought the Plains City Council an ordinance that would declare the town a Sanctuary City for the Unborn and outlaw abortion trafficking inside city limits.
A Yoakum County librarian stood up during public comment to speak against it.
Then Mayor Pro-Tem Steven Lopez moved to table the measure for one month "to further educate the community," according to LifeNews.
Councilman Justin Esty seconded, and Councilmembers Cynthia Thomason and Karen Marks joined them for a unanimous vote.
Councilman Jaime Williamson was absent.
The ordinance comes back before the council on Monday, November 9.
Plains native Bradley Palmer II, who backs the measure, said he trusts the council to "act on behalf of those who do not have a voice."
How the Abortion Trafficking Ordinance Lets Private Citizens Sue
The ordinance carries no police enforcement and no criminal penalties.
Like the Texas Heartbeat Act, it hands enforcement to ordinary citizens through civil lawsuits.
It would push that private enforcement back from a detectable heartbeat all the way to fertilization.
It would let citizens sue out-of-state abortion businesses, and anyone who helps them, when a Plains woman's abortion happens in another state.
It would open the door to lawsuits against abortion trafficking groups and the individuals who do the trafficking.
It would also go after abortion pill distributors and shut out any outfit that mails abortion drugs from operating in Plains.
The mother is never the target.
Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances bar any lawsuit against the woman carrying the child, Dickson wrote in Live Action.
West Texas Towns Already Passed Abortion Trafficking Bans
Plains would hardly be blazing a trail.
Denver City, in the same county, already passed the ordinance.
So did Sundown, Whiteface, Brownfield, Wellman, Morton, Levelland, Wolfforth, Shallowater, and the city of Lubbock.
Lubbock County became the fourth Texas county to outlaw abortion trafficking in October 2023, covering Interstate 27 and every highway running through its unincorporated land.
More than 50 communities have passed abortion trafficking bans since August 2023, according to LifeNews.
The movement started in Waskom, a town of about 2,000 people, back in 2019.
"America is a nation of small towns," Dickson told The Texan.
Austin backed the effort up in December 2025, when Texas House Bill 7 took effect.
That law lets Texans sue anyone who mails or delivers abortion pills into the state, with damages of at least $100,000 – while protecting the mothers themselves from liability.
Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Galiardo called it "a national model for states committed to protecting life."
Lopez Can Shut the New Mexico Abortion Pipeline On November 9
Pressing pause is not neutral.
Every month an ordinance sits on the table is another month the highway out of Plains stays wide open for anyone running a woman to an abortion facility in New Mexico.
Whole Woman's Health in Albuquerque already knows where its customers come from.
Every one of those trips ends with a West Texas baby who never comes home.
This ordinance is for the mothers who turn around before the state line, and for the children they get to raise.
Ten West Texas communities already looked at this same ordinance and found plenty of reasons to pass it.
The city of Lubbock, home to more than 260,000 people, managed it.
Wellman, with barely 200 residents, managed it.
Mayor Pro-Tem Steven Lopez asked for one month to educate the community, and he got it.
When the council meets on November 9, Lopez should bring the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance back to the table and call the vote.
Sources:
- Mark Lee Dickson, "Plains, Texas Considers Ordinance Outlawing Abortion Trafficking," LifeNews, October 17, 2026.
- Mark Lee Dickson, "21st Texas County Outlaws Abortion and Use of Roads for 'Abortion Trafficking,'" Live Action, May 13, 2026.
- Mark Lee Dickson, "Fourth Texas County Outlaws Abortion and Use of Roads for 'Abortion Trafficking,'" Live Action, October 24, 2023.
- Kim Roberts, "21 Towns, Eight Counties in Texas Passed Ordinances Banning Abortion, Abortion Trafficking This Year," The Texan, December 29, 2025.
- Kathryn Pluta, "A Guide to Texas's New Law Cracking Down on Abortion Drug Trafficking," Thomas More Society, September 22, 2025.
