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Lubbock Pro-Life activists gathered out front of the new planned parenthood building at 3716 22nd Place last Friday.
The crowd was estimated to be in the range of 100-200, according to Everything Lubbock, and speakers including pro-life activists, Jim Baxa and Mark Lee Dickson, Lubbock state senator Charles Perry, and the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Allen West. Some estimates, from security and others at the event, held that attendance ranged from 400 to 800.
The Lubbock Rally for Life was organized by the Lubbock Area Republican Women. Several counter-protesters were seen across the street, separated by a police barrier.
“The attendance at the Lubbock March For Life spoke volumes. Well over 1,000 people attended the three events which served as a rallying cry for people to do their part in the fight for life in Lubbock, Texas. It was a great turnout,” Mark Lee Dickson, Director of Right to Life of East Texas and speaker at the event, said.
The event comes in lieu of Lubbock’s May Referendum on whether or not to join 18 other Texas cities in outlawing abortion within city limits. The ordinance was first brought up for a vote to Lubbock City Council in November, where the city council voted down the ordinance 0-7.
Now, on May 1st, the citizens of Lubbock will decide on the fate of the ordinance. For activists like Dickson, the rally is a good sign of what may be to come, but Dickson knows that there still is a lot of work to be done.
“Not one of us should assume that the victory is already won,” Dickson said. “Each one of us must do our part to make sure that this election is a landslide election. Each one of us must do our part to make sure abortion is outlawed within the city limits of Lubbock, Texas.”