The City of Rowlett recently passed a resolution declaring January to be “Sanctity of Life Month” in order to celebrate all life, not just promote the anti-abortion movement, according to the council member who proposed the measure.
The Rowlett City Council passed the Sanctity of Life proclamation on January 16 to “reaffirm” the city’s commitment to protecting “life in all its forms,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The proclamation was proposed by Council Member Mike Britton. In an interview with The Dallas Express, Britton explained why he spearheaded this effort.
“When President Reagan did this, he set aside January 22 … to celebrate and promote the sanctity of life,” Britton said. “I knew that we had never done that before, and because of my faith and because of how strong I feel about the sanctity of life, I put forth the proposal that we as a city ought to recognize the month [for the] sanctity of life, not just for the pro-life movement, but to recognize all life.”
“I thought it appropriate that we as a city acknowledge that all life is sacred,” Britton told DX.
“As a City, we seem to [make a] proclamation [for] everything under the sun. And I thought this is something that’s worthwhile,” he said. “We have several organizations … in Rowlett that promote this.”
Britton said that while there was pushback from some community members, the effort received a lot of support.
“There were a number of churches who supported the idea that we ought to recognize that all life is sacred,” he said.
“I had a few citizens that registered their disagreement in doing this because they thought it was going to be slanted toward the pro-life movement, which it was not,” he continued. “I think we constructed the proclamation in such a manner that it recognized that all life, whether the unborn [or] senior citizens, everybody’s life has intrinsic value.”
Britton said that since the resolution was passed, the feedback he has received has been largely positive.
The proclamation was co-sponsored by Council Member Jonathan Reaves, who was championed by Dallas County Republican Party chair Jennifer Stoddard-Hajdu as an example of a Republican appointed through her efforts in a recent interview with DX.