The city commission of Clovis, NM put off an ordinance that would ban abortions inside the Texas border town.

Clovis does not have an abortion clinic, but it was set to become the first so-called “sanctuary city for the unborn” with Mayor Mike Morris saying at a commission meeting on Thursday that he “does not want to see Clovis become a destination for abortions” as people from Texas could potentially pass through Clovis to get to other New Mexico destinations for procedures. But he said more work was needed on the proposed measure.

The architect of the ordinance is Jonathan Mitchell, a conservative Texas lawyer who was the driving force behind Texas’ six-week “heartbeat” abortion law in 2021.

New Mexico’s state legislature is currently controlled by the Democratic Party. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said Clovis’ ordinance would violate state law protecting the right to an abortion.