A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn and the Spatial Strategy of Social Control in Texas
Authors: Heikkilä, Niko
Publisher: OpenEdition
Publishing place: LONDON
Publication year: 2025
Journal: European Journal of American Studies
Journal name in source: European journal of American studies
Journal acronym: EUR J AM STUD
Article number: 24190
Volume: 20
Issue: 2
Number of pages: 22
ISSN: 1991-9336
eISSN: 1991-9336
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/14eio
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/24190
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499748656
In 2019, anti-abortion activists started the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn (SCFTU) initiative, aiming to pass local ordinances outlawing abortion within city or county limits across Texas. In this article, I examine the SCFTU initiative in Texas to explain the role of social control in antiabortion strategy and the broader implications of this type of activism in relation to mainstream pro-life and the more extreme abortion abolitionist aims. To understand these mechanisms of social control, I employ a framework drawn from literature on social control and abortion mobilities. The article argues that the SCFTU initiative offers a space for anti-abortion activists to build power at a local level and to develop new ways to undermine and criminalize reproductive rights. The most serious implication of the strategy is that this type of activism clearly recognizes that abortion bans are difficult to enforce, signaling a turn toward a more authoritarian frameworks such as the model introduced by abortion abolitionists.
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