City inches closer to 'banning' abortion

CELINA - City council members will consider legislation that would designate Celina as a sanctuary city for the unborn and outlaw abortion within its limits.

Councilors at Monday night's hourlong committee-of-the-whole meeting voted 5-2 to introduce to council legislation that would declare Celina a sanctuary city. Councilmen Eric Baltzell, Eric Clausen, Mark Fleck, June Scott and Myron Buxton all voted "yes," while Mike Sovinski and Eric Lochtefeld both voted "no."

Buxton and Scott voted in favor of the motion, saying they want to allow for further discussion on the matter. Fleck, who also voted "yes," added, "but I think we do need to explore it pretty deeply."

They did not indicate when such legislation would be brought to council for a vote. Officials spent the hour questioning the intent and potential legal fallout of enacting a sanctuary city status. They also heard from community members who support an abortion ban in Celina.

Council president Jason King said he asked councilors to look at making Celina a sanctuary city or restricting abortion-providing facilities after several people had approached him with the idea. Secondly, President Joe Biden said he wants to have an abortion-providing facility in every zip code, King claimed.

"That caused a lot of people to take pause and say, 'Well, we need to do something proactive for our own city,'" King said.

At a May 17 press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed a U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban stating: "The President and Vice President are devoted to ensuring that every American has access to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, regardless of their income, zip code, race, health insurance status, (or) immigration status. As such, the president is committed to codifying Roe regardless ... of the outcome of this case."

Law director George Moore relayed an email correspondence he had with Garry Hunter, executive director/general counsel of Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, about the prospect of council banning abortion clinics in Celina. The city of Lebanon took similar action earlier this year, he said.

Hunter in the email, which Moore read aloud, wrote that in his opinion, "the legislation is unenforceable and could result in lawsuits against the city that would be expensive to defend. If you are sued and lose, a bad precedent could be set at least in Ohio and maybe the Federal 6th circuit."

Moore also expressed his concerns, saying such legislation, if passed, would almost assuredly result in someone filing a lawsuit. Should the city lose, it would likely have to pay the plaintiff's attorney fees.

"I guess the personal concern I would have for anybody on council that would vote for something like this is they might come to look for you personally to repay back the city coffers if it's not a proper expenditure of city funds," Moore said, emphasizing he was speaking purely from a legal standpoint.

Clausen pointed out that some states and cities have enacted laws that restrict the Second Amendment, asking why Celina can't do the same in regard to abortion.

"They're already doing that, restricting people's rights, so why does it matter if we started something here? They're already setting precedence and they're not going to sue those states and cities for doing that," Clausen said.

"I would argue there's a different set of Supreme Court jurisprudence when it comes to any type of right that is constitutionally protected, whether it's First Amendment free speech, freedom of assembly, all that, it's got its own analogy," Moore replied. "Abortion has its own analogy. Second Amendment has its own analogy."

Some groups falsely believe that the state and/or local municipalities can engage in nullification of federal law, Moore said, adding that the concept "has no place in American jurisprudence."

"I assure you that Planned Parenthood, if something like this passes, they will come in. They will try to open a storefront. They will get denied," Moore said. "They will sue. They will win. We will pay their attorneys' fees. It will be a bad day. That's a very unfortunate reality but that's where it is."

Other councilors then jumped into the debate.

Scott said he was not going to delve into the morality of abortion though he did note he's "not in favor of it." He wants to focus on the legality of potential council action.

"I don't want my opinions about this to reflect on my feelings about that issue. My feelings on this are reflective of what is legal to do and what is not legal to do. Those are my reflective ideas," Scott said. "I don't want to see some kind of action taken against the city because of some ordinance that has been passed."

Sovinski said the legal opinions of Moore and Hunter indicate such legislation would be ineffective in achieving its intent of prohibiting abortion.

"I don't like the idea of going ahead and passing legislation knowing that it will not be enforceable," Sovinski said.

Fleck too expressed doubts about the effectiveness of such legislation.

"I think if we would try to pass some legislation, I think that that would put us in the crosshairs for a fight, a fight which we may not win," he said. "That doesn't change how I feel. I don't want a clinic like that in this town but the way the world works, if you put yourself out there, they're going to probably come looking at that."

Baltzell said he's personally against abortion. However, he also called into question the efficacy of the ordinance.

"I also question that anybody's really looking at Celina, Ohio, to open a clinic like this," he said. "I'm not aware of cities our size having those, but I could be ignorant to that."

He wondered aloud what the endgame of the legislation would be.

"Are we trying to set an example in hoping that other municipalities follow suit and then it leads to a federal issue?" he asked. "And then I just wonder, 'What's the cost to the city if we go down this path … and then what result are we going to get out of it?'"

King responded, claiming legal counsel has been offered to the city government.

"There's been an offer already from the former solicitor general in Texas to represent the city if we would go through a lawsuit. That has been communicated," King said.

Communities across the nation, King said, are grappling with topics such as mask mandates, critical race theory and abortion. Sooner or later precedence gets set because somebody does something, King said, pointing to Chicago's 1982 ban on handgun ownership.

King said he believes what council is contemplating is worthy of a challenge.

"Obviously I have a slant on this. I see it as something that should not ever take place within our city and I think setting a precedent is a good example, and maybe other communities would follow that," he said.

Proposed legislation could have the unintended consequence of setting up Celina as a target for someone to attack, Sovinski argued.

"Everybody knows that Mercer County is a pro-life county. Why in the world would anybody want to look at putting an abortion clinic in a pro-life county, unless there is a target," Sovinski said. "If we do nothing, the chances of an abortion clinic coming to a pro-life county like this are probably less than a tenth of a percent."

A community's character is the best defense against an abortion clinic, "not some piece of legislation," Sovinski said.

"The other way to look at that is we either take the fight to them or they'll bring the fight to us, according to the president's own words," King countered.

Councilors then heard from four community members all backing restrictions on abortion in Celina, including Shawn Meyer, senior pastor at Aletheia Christian Church in Celina.

"I can tell you if you want to represent your city you would have 100% support from my church for becoming a sanctuary city for the unborn," he said.

He cast doubt on the notion of Celina becoming a target for legal action by adopting sanctuary city status.

"There are 36 sanctuary cities for the unborn in the country right now. I believe the first one became such in June of 2019. There has been one legal challenge and it has subsequently been withdrawn," Meyer claimed. "And so what this looks like to me, frankly, is a lot of cover."

Mike Spencer, founder and president of Project LifeVoice, a gospel-driven human rights organization that acts on the behalf of the fetus, argued for councilors to follow principle rather than pragmatism.

Spencer, who lives in Celina, noted that a few councilors indicated they oppose abortion.

"But if you agree, and it sounds like many of you do, anyway, that abortion is the unjust and intentional killing of innocent children, boys and girls, in the most barbaric manner imaginable - abortion dismembers, decapitates, disembowels and burns little girls and boys from their mother's womb - if you believe that then I would assume that you believe that, this is the defining moral issue of our day, as I believe," he said.

What culture is lacking today is not wisdom but courage and love, Spencer said before passing to councilors a set of what he said are graphic photos showing abortion performed at various stages of development.

"If something is so evil that we can't stand looking at it, then maybe we ought not to be tolerating it," he said. "I believe it's your job to be principled and to do the right thing."

Angie King, the county recorder and a former city councilwoman, referenced a recently passed Celina City Schools building project levy, insisting the community is anti-abortion.

She noted some states have imposed restrictions and limitations on abortions.

"It doesn't change the law. It doesn't mean that somebody can't go to another community but what it means here, in Celina, is we value kids and we value life, and that doesn't mean just from ages 6 to 18. It starts at conception," she said.

Council president King then asked if councilors wanted to make a motion to bring an ordinance or resolution to council for consideration. Sovinski made a motion to bring to council a resolution that would make clear the city's opinion on abortion but not restrict its practice.

The vote failed 4 to 3, with Baltzell, Clausen, Fleck, and Lochtefeld voting "no," and Buxton, Sovinski and Scott voting "yes."

Then, Clausen made a motion to bring to council an ordinance to declare Celina a sanctuary city. It passed and apparently will come before council.