Officials in "Little Washington" opened up the idea of declaring the Washington, North Carolina a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” at Monday night’s council meeting. Despite intense public debate, Public Radio East’s Annette Weston reports the proposal was ultimately removed from the action agenda and was not brought up for a vote.
The Sanctuary City of the Unborn resolution, proposed by Washington City Councilman Joe Davis, was entirely symbolic and declaratory. It would have established no new local criminal penalties or legal ordinances, but serve as a public declaration recognizing, “the dignity of unborn life.”
Davis offered a litany of Bible versus in support of his proposal. “Exodus 20 says, 'Thou shalt not murder.’ Psalm 127, 3 said, ‘Behold, children are a gift from the Lord.’ Genesis 20 says, ‘The Lord closed the wombs of all the house of Abimelech,’” he said, “So, the Lord's the one that closed and can open it. Genesis 16, ‘Sarah said, Abraham, the Lord has restrained me from bearing.’”
During the public comment period, the proposal drew wide support from the community, with a few moments of pushback. Carolyn Connelly Blake asserted that protecting the unborn would also protect women that discover they’re expecting. She said, “It would honor the citizens of Washington to stand on biblical precepts and to give and provide a safe place for women who are scared and need to know, what am I going to do? I'm pregnant. Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant.”
Daniel Woods is the lead pastor of the Wesleyan Pentecostal Church of Washington, and spoke in support of the resolution – giving several reasons. “Number one, it agrees with the biblical admonition against shedding innocent blood. Agreement with God's word is always best,” he said, “Number two, it supports several foundation stones of our community, such as church, family, liberty, and justice. Number three, it recognizes civil government's responsibility to protect the unborn, a responsibility for which governors will answer to God, the supreme judge of all. Number four, it honors governmental jurisdiction. in that it is only a resolution and not legislation.”
Chris Adams is also a local pastor, at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, and was the lone speaker opposed to the resolution, also using scripture to make his point. He said, “Jeremiah, the prophet that was called upon by Councilman Davis's at least proclamation I saw, never mentions the unborn, but does in fact mention in the 7th chapter that in order for a city to be really blessed by God, it must not be hostile to the alien. So, I suppose if we are going to be biblically faithful, good sir, you would call for us to truly be a sanctuary city for the alien. That's at least how I see it biblically. And second is that if we are going to call people who, I don't know, end the lives of children in utero to be murderers, then perhaps we ought to call God such a thing. For it is in the book of Numbers that a recipe is given for a woman to have an abortion should she conceive of that child out of wedlock.”
When the floor returned to the council, Councilmember Antwan Horton explained that as a father to two daughters, he feared how a potential act of sexual violence could complicate an unintended pregnancy. “In that moment, I don't know what I'll do,” he said. “So, I think we have to be careful, for one, how we tell individuals what to do with their bodies.”
Davis later confronted Horton directly about that comment, drawing pushback from Horton and fellow Councilmember Max Perreault. “You would consider killing your grandchild?” Davis asked.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Can we not? I mean, stop,” said Perreault. “That's it's just really pain me hearing that,” Davis interjected. Perreault said, “Just show him respect, man.”
Then Horton responded, “Do you got kids?” to which Davis conceded, “I don't.” “Okay, so you need to just be quiet about it, Horton replied, “You don't have kids.”
While the measure was backed locally by Personhood North Carolina, legal advocacy groups like the ACLU argue that these localized initiatives represent government overreach that restricts bodily autonomy.
Statewide opponents add that under North Carolina law—which allows abortion up to 12 weeks—municipal anti-abortion declarations conflict with state governance, lack actual statutory backing, and risk exposing small towns to expensive civil rights litigation.
The proposal was removed from the agenda and not brought forth for a vote.
