Sign up for The Brief , our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. So she decided to push her small West Texas town a step forward. The first 50 were gone within a week. Some in this Lubbock suburb of about 5, have even reported her shop to the Wolfforth Police Department for giving away the emergency contraceptive pills.
The clash between the coffee shop owner and abortion opponents is the latest salvo in a long debate in the region. Last May, Lubbock became the biggest city in Texas β and the only one with an abortion provider β to ban the practice within city limits. Months later, Texas lawmakers passed a law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
The Lubbock area was β and is β a harbinger in the debate over reproductive rights. With abortion outlawed in the Lone Star State, the fight in large part is turning to contraception. The fault lines are familiar: Abortion-rights activists are pushing multiple forms of contraception, including Plan B.
Abortion opponents are lobbying for additional bans on the medicine. Getting access to abortion has rarely been easy in Lubbock, and the nationwide debate has played out here in remarkable ways. Planned Parenthood reopened its clinic in late , after closing in due to another Texas law blocking abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In September , state lawmakers representing Lubbock pushed city officials to create the measure. Two months later, the City Council heard nearly six hours of public comments before unanimously voting to reject the sanctuary city ordinance.
Most members of the council said that while they opposed abortion, they had concerns about the enforcement and constitutionality of the ordinance. Then, more than 4, Lubbock voters signed a petition to force a special election on the issue. Churches in the area were vocal supporters of the ordinance and encouraged their congregations to vote in support of it.
