LEHI, Utah — In a city council meeting Tuesday evening, Lehi City voted to become a sanctuary city for the unborn.
Merrilee Boyack is chairman of Abortion Free Utah and said she hopes Lehi will join Riverton, Highland, Enterprise and Utah County in passing the resolution to become a sanctuary city for the unborn.
“It is causing communities to think, 'How can we help women in these circumstances? How can they helped the disabled, how can they help the elderly?'” said Boyack.
The sanctuary is a proclamation stating the city believes in protecting all human life.
Boyack said there are 3,000 elective abortions in Utah every year — that’s about eight elective abortions a day.
“We feel that that is unacceptable,” said Boyack. “We will continue to work to protect the most vulnerable members of society and also to support the women who find themselves in desperate circumstances. We understand that this is an issue that involves both.”
RELATED STORY: A ban on elective abortions has been introduced in the Utah State Legislature
The sanctuary has no legal ramifications, but those who supported the resolution and those against it said it’s a statement that has political impact.
Lauren Simpson, the policy director for Alliance for a Better Utah, said this is an issue that also involves reproductive rights and that city governments should not be involved.
“To say that as a city you have a position on when life begins, I think that’s really divisive and really not helpful to the overall discussion,” said Simpson.
There’s a research survey, Simpson said, that shows the majority of Utahns do not support additional restrictions on abortion.
“That doesn’t mean that people are in favor of abortion,” said Simpson. “They just believe that’s your constitutional right and that’s something you should have the agency to be able to do.”
It's a choice that Boyack said is unacceptable.
“Every baby has value,” said Boyack. “Every disabled person has value and every woman has value. The more we can spread that message, the better.”
