Amarillo City Councilmember Don Tipps weighed in on the city’s discussion of an abortion ordinance that has carried on for the past month.

The city council was studying the issue and having conversations on whether a citywide abortion ordinance is needed, but with a group of 11 citizens filing paperwork to initiate a petition in December, the council has been stuck in a wait-and-see mode. Tipps reacted to the citizen group not letting the council further explore the issue before moving forward with the petition.

One of the issues that Tipps felt prompted this was the work session not being very productive with insufficient open dialogue. He said one of the issues was that council members could not discuss the proposals limited by the Texas Meetings Act. He said that, to a great degree, councilmember Les Simpson was not privy to much of the information that would have been needed for the discussion.

“I hope that we would get everything on the table, but it did not work out that way,” Tipps said. “I was a little frustrated the way things worked out in that session. I think the citizens saw that this was not moving forward and decided to exercise this action. If they get the signatures, this shows that many citizens would like us to address this issue.”

He felt that one reason the citizens moved forward was an ambition to make the May ballot vote on this as soon as possible rather than until November. With so much discussion on the issue, Tipps felt that maybe the city would be bogged down in creating an ordinance.

“There is a lot of stuff to do in the city, and we cannot just focus on one issue like this when there is so much going on in the city,” Tipps said. “We are being asked if there are not more important things to be done in the city; just because this is a priority for some to get done, we still have to address the day-to-day issues that need to be addressed.”

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Tipps touched on one of the issues with the work session: the amount of time devoted to the presentation from the Florida doctor. He feels that the council had already made their pro-life position quite clear, so much of the presentation was unnecessary.

“We didn’t need a doctor to tell us that there are two patients’ lives to consider in these circumstances,” Tipps said. “To me, it was not needed for our council discussion. The work session should have been more about our discussion of the ordinance. But I am not sure the council has had enough time to review the proposals. Maybe we should have put off the session to be more productive, with each councilmember having more information.”

Asked what he thought about the criticism of some councilmembers who ran on pro-life as not fulfilling their campaign pledges for not automatically supporting the ordinance that has been endorsed in the petition, Tipps said that he did not see those as fair. He said that pledging to be pro-life did not mean that they would unequivocally support each measure that was brought before them.

“I understand the frustration of the side that brings that criticism, but I do not know that a single councilman had an ordinance in front of us that we all said we 100% agreed with at the time,” he added.

When pressed, he said he was more in line with the language of the petition, which mirrors the 18-page ordinance that Right to Life leader Mark Lee Dickson and his supporters have advocated for.

“As for my position, I am still looking at it, with most of us on council comfortable with the majority of the ordinance that includes the abortion ban, the abortion pill, and fetal remains from elective abortions,” Tipps said. “People like the mayor are asking good questions about where state law stands on this issue. We are looking at what is already in place, and do we gain anything by passing this? We want to pass something meaningful and not just something that does nothing.”

Tipps said much of the ordinance is not about restricting travel but about keeping people from taking an unborn citizen to a different state and murdering them. The ordinance still treats the pregnant mother as an unwilling participant and is not subject to any civil action.

The wording of Texas law, Tipps says, is being studied carefully to how it applies to abortion travel. He said that his understanding is that it only applies in Texas and cannot bring action to out-of-state abortions and doctors.

“We are all trying to see what Texas law says and what this ordinance will do differently,” Tipps added.

He said that much of the conversation about the ordinance is about whether it has teeth, since no civil actions have been filed against those seeking abortions in other states. Tipps did more births in the state since these ordinances and Texas law have changed to protect life. When pressed that these births have risen due to the lack of abortion access within great distances being more of a factor, Tipps agreed that it could also be a factor, since many areas of the state are over eight hours away from any abortion access.

“It’s a deterrent for the mother maybe to pause and not go back a rash decision to end the life of a baby,” Tipps said. “One of the main focuses of it would be for any companies, cartels or clinics that perform these abortions to be held accountable. It is more about shutting those clinics down, and if this can happen, that will be good.”

Tipps said that the argument about neighbors is how law enforcement works. He compared it to calling the fire department when one sees a fire or calling the police when one sees a crime.

“We all take care of our community, and the citizens are the police and vice versa,” Tipps said. “This is a deterrent to protect unborn citizens.”

When asked if having monetary penalties against family members who are just supporting their loved ones is right, Tipps replied that traveling across the border to commit what is a crime in Texas does not make it right. He compared it to going somewhere where murder is legal or killing a born child elsewhere in the world.

With this same logic, he was asked whether the same thought process should apply to other things not legal within Texas, such as gambling or using marijuana in another jurisdiction. Tipps stayed focused on his perception of what abortion is.

“I believe life begins at conception, so my passion for this comes from standing up for this child,” Tipps said. “If we are different at what point we believe life begins at, then I do not know that we are ever going to agree on an issue like this.”

Tipps said that common ground may be found in promoting contraception and people not getting pregnant.

“Maybe we help out with that, so this issue never comes into play,” he said. “Let us make sure that nobody must have an unwanted pregnancy, whether it is the Plan B pill, condoms, or whatever. I feel that that life within the mother deserves protection,” he said. “If I believe that is a life, why would I stand by when I see it is in danger?”

Asked what he thought about Sen. Kevin Sparks’ comments that this type of action should happen at the state level, he said “I do not necessarily disagree with his comments, but I think it’s harder to get these things done at the state level than the local level. When the state sees all these cities lining up to do this, it sends a message to Austin this is what people in the state want. I think this petition does the same for the city.”

When asked whether religious beliefs outweigh the constitution, Tipps said that the beauty of the republic is that people choose who represents them.

“I do not know of any election on any level that you do not know where the peoples’ faith is that represents you,” Tipps said. “When this happens, you know what principles guide them. But just because your religion may say or not say something, I do not think it necessarily your job to legislate your religion. I do not think that is right, and it comes down to who you vote for.”

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo Councilmember Don Tipps weighs in on abortion ordinance issue