Edinburg ordinance to outlaw abortion killed by city council

The ordinance would outlaw providing aid, funding, or transportation to abortion providers, among other stipulations. There are 30 other cities in Texas that have similar ordinances, like Lubbock. 

Anti-abortion advocates were calling on the city council to approve the ordinance, condemning abortion providers and those who seek abortions during public comment. Fern McLarity with local advocacy group Objective Watchers of the Legal System, went as far as condemning women who receive abortion care to hell. 

Abortion advocates opposed the ordinance on the grounds that the law was unconstitutional. Zaena Zamora, executive director of the RGV-based Frontera Fund, said the Edinburg as spreading misinformation to scare women from seeking abortion care, especially since there isn’t an abortion provider in Edinburg. 

Fronter Fund is a nonprofit reproductive rights advocacy group that provides information and funding to women in need of abortion care. She says the group pledged to help 400 people last year, 70 percent of which were already parents. She adds that 20 percent of those people were from Edinburg.

“Every day, and I do mean every single day,” she says, “people from our community call Frontera Fund because they need financial support for abortion.” 

Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina discussed the ordinance further after learning that Lubbock’s ordinance was approved by voters, despite support from council members at a previous meeting. When Edinburg city attorney Omar Ochoa asked to waive attorney-client privilege to publicly discuss legal matters publicly, Molina opposed the request. 

Molina was met with silence from council members when he called for a motion, effectively killing the ordinance. It’s not clear if Edinburg City Council would consider a similar ordinance being placed on the ballot.

MySA reached out to Edinburg officials for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.  

Zamora said after the small victory for Frontera Fund last night, she doesn’t expect Edinburg to have a similar ordinance appear on the ballot. 

“I think from from the perspective last night, it seems that the staff — the city staff — was not on board with the ordinance,” Zamora said. “They didn’t seem ready to have to deal with the legal ramifications that came out last night.”