“Abortion is freedom the same way a wife killing her husband would be freedom. Abortion is murder."

NBC: Stay Tuned (06-03-2024) 11:11 minutes

Amarillo, Texas, sits just an hour from the New Mexico border, where abortion is legal. It’s also where anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson has been waging his campaign to make it unlawful for Texas women to leave the state for an abortion. Amarillo is also where the Supreme Court mifepristone case first started—a battle that is ongoing. Dickson is hoping Amarillo will pass an ordinance to become the next “sanctuary city for the unborn,” which would take Texas’s near-total abortion ban even further. His efforts are dividing the community, leading to contentious hours-long city council meetings.

Horizon: Season 2024, Episode 14 (04-2024) 25.46 minutes

The Texan priest Mark Lee Dickson travels from town to town and has a travel ban imposed on pregnant women. Because even though Texas and 13 other American states have introduced almost total abortion bans, it is not enough for the American anti-abortion movement. Mark wants to prevent women traveling to states where abortion is still legal.

The Texan (06-21-2022)  minutes

In this interview, Isaiah Mitchell talks to Mark Lee Dickson about the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, a movement of small towns passing ordinances to outlaw abortions.

VICE News (01-22-2022) 17.07 minutes

Mark Lee Dickson is a pastor from East Texas who has quietly become one of the most influential anti-abortion voices in the United States. His push for cities to ban abortion through local ordinances paved the way for the Texas Heartbeat Act, a key challenge to Roe v. Wade.

NBC Meet the Press Special:

Abortion in America: One Year Later (06-23-2023)

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade sparked upheaval in America – in medicine, in politics, in culture and beyond. One year later, Meet the Press examines the impact of that decision, and what it means for the future of this country.

WCIA News (05-04-2023)

State leaders continue to push back against a controversial abortion ordinance that passed in Danville, Illinois this week. Meanwhile, one of the men responsible for its creation is welcoming the legal challenge ahead. It's part of a national movement he started to outlaw abortion altogether.

France 24 (06-24-2022)

The US Supreme Court took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure. FRANCE 24's team reports from Texas.

The Headline with Brandon Waltens (03-18-2022)

This week, Brandon Waltens sits down with Mark Lee Dickson, the Director of Right To Life of East Texas and Founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative to talk about the ever-growing movement to ban abortion in cities across the state.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (10-28-2021) 

Desi Lydic investigates the Texas abortion ban. 

NBC News (09-04-2021)

The extent of the new abortion bill in Texas could mean that minimum-wage earning patients would have to work three hours to cover the cost of gas alone to travel out of state for help. NBC News' Dasha Burns takes an in-depth look at the Texas abortion bill by the numbers.

Unaborted with Seth Gruber (09-02-2021) 

Mark Lee Dickson is a pastor, the director of Right to Life of East Texas, and the founder of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn. Mark has been traveling throughout Texas working with churches and city governments to develop a total of 37 sanctuary cities for the unborn! In May of this year, Mark helped create the first sanctuary city in Texas that already had an active abortion center – in Lubbock, TX. A regular defendant in abortion-industry lawsuits, and a defendant in the abortion-industry’s recent lawsuit against Texas’s heartbeat bill, Mark is a fly in the ointment for the abortion movement! That alone makes him a hero on this show!

EWTN News Nightly (06-08-2021)

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood against new pro-life policies in Lubbock, Texas. The judge ruled Planned Parenthood does not have standing to sue the city. Citizens in Lubbock had voted early last month to declare it a "Sanctuary City for the Unborn." The ordinance took effect earlier this month. Founder of "Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn," Mark Lee Dickson, tells us about the ruling and why the judge said that Planned Parenthood did not have the standing to bring a lawsuit. Lee Dickson discusses whether this ruling gives him encouragement in possibly helping other cities become "Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn." The founder explains what it means to be one of these sanctuary cities and how many sanctuary cities there are. He shares what is next for the initiative and how many other cities have expressed an interest in joining.

EWTN News Nightly (05-04-2021) 

Voters in the West Texas city of Lubbock, approved a measure last Saturday to outlaw abortion there. According to the group, Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, Lubbock is the 26th city in the state and also the largest to outlaw abortion. Lubbock has a population of more than 250,000 people. Founder of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, Mark Lee Dickson, joins to explain what his reaction was when he heard 62% of the voters in Lubbock had approved the measure to outlaw abortion, and what this says about the people of Lubbock. While this is a big win for life, not everyone is celebrating. Pro-abortion groups are saying it is unconstitutional and that there may also be impending legal action. Lee Dickson tells us more about this. He shares what comes next for the group and whether any other cities in Texas are considering measures to outlaw abortion as well. He gives insight into his group's efforts to make more cities throughout the country sanctuary cities for the unborn. 

EWTN News Nightly (02-26-2021)

As part of a movement called Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn in Texas, twenty cities and towns have passed an enforceable measure outlawing abortion within their city limits. The town of Carbon, Texas was the latest to join earlier this week, with officials voting unanimously to ban abortion. Director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, Mark Lee Dickson, joins to discuss what prompted him to start this initiative and how it's going so far. Lee shares how it felt when the vote to outlaw abortion was unanimous in Carbon and what sort of opposition the movement is receiving from pro-abortion groups. The founder tells our viewers how they can become involved and help this pro-life cause.

KTAL News (06-12-2019)

Waskom, Texas passed ordinance banning abortion.

KTAL News (06-11-2019)

Waskom, Texas City Council passed a sanctuary city ordinance.