Seminole, Texas Becomes 101st City to Ban Abortions

On Tuesday, November 3rd, the residents of the City of Seminole, Texas (pop. 7,952) voted to adopt an ordinance further outlawing abortion and declaring the city a Sanctuary City for the Unborn. The vote was 53.10% (831 votes) FOR and 46.90% (734 votes) AGAINST. The vote made the City of Seminole the 101st city in the nation and the 84th in Texas to adopt such a measure.

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The Seminole Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance outlawing abortion defines “abortion” as the “act of using, prescribing, administering, procuring, or selling of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the purpose to terminate the pregnancy of a woman, with knowledge that the termination by any of those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of an unborn child.”

The ordinance is clear that the term “abortion” DOES NOT INCLUDE: “In vitro fertilization or fertility treatments of any type; The use, prescription, administration, procuring, or selling of Plan B, morning-after pills, intrauterine devices, or any other type of contraception or emergency contraception; or an act performed with the purpose to: Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child; remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion; or remove an ectopic pregnancy, the implantation of a fertilized egg or embryo outside of the uterus.”

The ordinance, which declares, “abortion at all times and at all stages of pregnancy is an unlawful act, unless the abortion is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman in a medical emergency,” goes out of its way to make sure people understand that the ordinance does not prohibit abortions that may result in cases of medical emergencies. The term “medical emergency” is defined in the ordinance to mean “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that, as certified by a physician, places the woman in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless an abortion is performed.”

The ordinance states, time and time again, that it does not prohibit “abortions performed or induced in response to a medical emergency, or any conduct that aids or abets or attempts to aid or abet such abortions” and is also clear that it does not prohibit “conduct taken by a licensed medical professional that is necessary to perform, induce, or facilitate an abortion in response to a medical emergency, or to ensure that the licensed medical professional is prepared to perform, induce, or facilitate an abortion in response to a medical emergency, so long as that conduct is not in any way intended to facilitate an elective abortion.”

The ordinance includes six provisions. The Seminole Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance: (1) prohibits performing an elective abortion and aiding or abetting elective abortions within the city limits of Seminole; (2) prohibits elective abortions on Seminole residents, regardless of where the abortion takes place; (3) prohibits abortion trafficking through the City of Seminole; (4) prohibits mailing abortion-inducing drugs into Seminole; (5) recognizes organizations involved in mailing and receiving abortion-inducing drugs and abortion paraphernalia with the intent to aid or abet an elective abortion as criminal organizations in violation of the federal Comstock Act and prohibits such organizations from doing business inside the City of Seminole; and (6) prohibits the transportation and disposal within the City of Seminole of the remains of unborn children killed by elective abortion across state lines and brought into Texas by waste management companies for processing and disposal as trash.

The Seminole Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance is enforced the same way the Texas Heartbeat Act is enforced: through a private enforcement mechanism that allows private citizens to sue any individual or organization violating the ordinance. The ordinance states, “Any person, other than the city of Seminole, and any officer or employee of the city, has standing to bring and may bring a civil action against any person or entity that: violates any provision” of this ordinance. The ordinance has a six-year statute of limitations. Seminole’s Ordinance is clear that “a civil action . . . may not be brought against the woman upon whom the abortion was performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in violation of this ordinance, or against a pregnant woman who intends or seeks to abort her unborn child in violation of this ordinance.”

In addition to providing protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn children, the ordinance also educates members of the community on the Thriving Texas Families Program and the resources that can be obtained through centers listed on the Texas Pregnancy Care Network and The Pregnancy Network websites.

The Seminole Seminole Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance is the eighteenth ordinance to pass in 2026, following the Texas cities of Matador (pop. 570), Lockney (pop. 1,988), Wellman (pop. 205), O’Donnell (pop. 704), Brownfield (pop. 9,976), Muleshoe (pop. 5,158), Ranger (pop. 2,469), Denver City (pop. 4,911), Snyder (pop. 11,251) and the counties of Borden (pop. 631), Hall (pop. 2,825), Hood (pop. 61,598), King (pop. 265), Sterling (pop. 1,372), Lynn (pop. 5,596), Collingsworth (pop. 2,652), and Scurry (pop. 16,932).

With Texas “going blue,” these ordinances may be even more important now than was ever imagined. Residents in cities and counties across the nation who are interested in seeing their local governments pass enforceable ordinances prohibiting abortion are encouraged to sign the online petition from the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.

LifeNews Note: Mark Lee Dickson lives in Texas and is the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.