Pueblo City Councilor Regina Maestri is considering introducing an anti-abortion ordinance. Again.
“We have a ballot measure coming up on the state ballot,” said Maestri during Monday’s work session. “It’s going to be solidifying the abortion laws. It’s going to be adding to the abortion laws. … Two years ago I ran an ordinance in favor of trying to shut down the clinic that was going to open here. This ordinance was introduced to me by our now-president [Mark] Aliff, who Pueblo community members brought it to him. He was not active on the council at the time, he brought it to me and asked me to move it forward.”
In November 2022, Maestri attempted to make Pueblo a “sanctuary city for the unborn” with an ordinance that invoked the Comstock Act, an 1873 anti-vice law banning the mailing and receiving of obscene matter. The ordinance was an effort to stop the CARE [Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence] clinic from opening in Pueblo. This legal strategy was promoted by Mark Lee Dickson, the director of Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative. Dickson, a self-described “36-year-old virgin,” touted his success in convincing municipalities like Hobbs, New Mexico to restrict abortion access. The Pueblo effort was led by Forging Pueblo, a group whose mission statement mirrors those of the Seven Mountain dominionists, and includes on its board of directors Tamra Axworthy, the executive director of Pueblo’s A Caring Pregnancy Center, an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, and Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose).
In July, the Pueblo City Council voted 5-1 to spend $1,500 to sponsor a fundraiser for Axworthy’s pregnancy center with public funds. City Council will hear more on Maestri’s ordinance during the Sept. 23 work session, and any vote on the ordinance would have to occur during a regular meeting.
Aliff, who served on the Pueblo City Council from 2018 to 2022, was elected again in 2023. In 2019, Aliff appeared in a promotional video for Forging Pueblo. “Christians need to step up and become involved in an organized fashion in all spheres of our culture, including government,” he said in the three-minute video. “We read in scripture how God used mighty men and women in this capacity.”
Then City Council President Heather Graham, who now serves as Pueblo’s mayor, offered a pointed critique of the 2022 ordinance, which failed in a 4-3 vote. “Certain people in our city government have no care for citizens they were elected to represent,” she said at the time.
“We have so many people who would be affected by this ordinance, but certain elected officials simply don’t care who they run over if it benefits their agenda,” said Graham. “We stood up here as a city council of Pueblo. Our job is to keep the community safe with police and fire and hold financial responsibility to the citizens of Pueblo. A quick rundown of what our objectives include: modernize city facilities and infrastructure, including the police and court buildings. Improve the condition and quality of city streets and parks. Add more and upgrade our fire stations. Create an atmosphere where citizens take pride in Pueblo, our city. Celebrate our cultural diversity. Have the City Council present a positive image as leaders. Keep citizens well informed on city issues, policies, and programs. Create strong partnerships with our community and our other governments. Improve cooperation with the county and school district. Recognize common goals and direction for the Greater Pueblo community. Better utilize civic and business organizations and better understand the relationship between the City of Pueblo and the Pueblo community. What is not our job is to govern abortion paraphernalia because that is all this ordinance intends to do. The clinic is open and I’m sure will remain open even if this was to pass. This is not going to do away with any clinic. Are we really going to require the U.S. Postal Service to open up packages to our clinic or hospitals in Pueblo to make sure none of the paraphernalia is in there? That is not our job.”
Currently, the CARE clinic is open and operating in Pueblo.
Democrats Sarah Martinez and Dennis Flores spoke out against Maestri’s reintroduction of the ordinance. “Absolutely not,” said Martinez. “I object to this whole-heartedly. The fact that we are even discussing this is beyond frustrating to me. Why this is even considered city business — I think this is a complete misuse of our time, city resources. Why council would even allow this to be a conversation again would be beyond me.”
Flores noted that regulating abortion is beyond the city council’s scope of responsibility. “We keep stepping out on the edge, constantly, into areas we don’t have any say-so,” he said. “This is something the state of Colorado is going to do. They will codify it. We don’t have any power within this city council to circumvent anything they’re doing. Can we talk about it? Yes, this is the United States. We can talk about any subject, but we have so many important things we should be doing. On this particular issue, it is legal in the state of Colorado to get an abortion. It is legal for this clinic to be in business.”
Pueblo Pro-Choice, a pro-abortion activist group, is calling for residents to attend the Sept. 23 work session at 5 p.m. at Pueblo City Hall.
