On Monday, November 14th, members of the community gathered at the Pueblo City Council meeting to present opposition to the harmful abortion clinic set to open in Pueblo, CO within the next two months. Pueblo Chieftain writer Anna Winfrey composed an anti-life article the following day, November 15th, in support of Mayor Gradisar’s excuse that nothing could be done by the city to prevent or hinder the abortion facility from coming to town.
The Council meeting was packed Monday night with only a small amount of standing room left as the community overwhelmingly came to oppose the clinic that will offer first, second, and possibly third trimester abortions in Pueblo. The clinic is part of the CARE (Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence) network of abortion facilities started by infamous late-term abortionist, Dr. Leroy Carhart. Several dozen people stood in line to make public comments, but only six people were given time for public comments, with only three presentations opposed to the abortion facility.
The presentations were focused on a variety of topics explaining to the Council and community why this abortion facility would be a detriment to our city, but none of these were reported by the Pueblo Chieftain writer. Those presenting on the topic explained the injurious – and, at times deadly – outcomes of abortion for the mother, the negative, divisive image it would bring to Pueblo, the extremes of late term abortion, and the danger Dr. Carhart has been to women for many years. The Council was shown fetal development models to illustrate the growth of a baby throughout the first, second, and third trimesters, and were given a list of more than a hundred women who have died from legal abortion here in America.
At the end of the presentations, as emphasized by the Chieftain article, Mayor Gradisar briefly commented that there is nothing he or City Council can do about the facility. This resulted in a heated response from the audience, who wanted the mayor to do more than dismiss the issue without considering possible routes of action that have been taken by many other cities.
After the mayor spoke, comments came from the Council members themselves, four of whom remained silent on the topic, and two of whom came out in support of action against the facility and industry here in Pueblo. Council members Regina Maestri and Lori Winner both acknowledged that cities can and have stepped in and addressed these types of matters before, with the most recent example being in New Mexico. City Council President Heather Graham remained neutral on the topic, letting the audience know their voices had been heard in the matter.
Time will tell what the five City Council members choose to do when an ordinance is put to the vote to determine if abortion facilities will be banned, highly regulated, or left free to perform these abortions. The battle for life in Pueblo is far from over, and we encourage all who recognize the value of the pre-born child to join our public network at Forging Pueblo to stay informed on how you can be involved moving forward.