Amarillo Mayor Stanley responds to criticisms of council special meeting

Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley speaks about the 101st Amarillo Police Academy class Thursday at the Amarillo Civic Center.
Michael Cuviello / Amarillo Globe-News

Amarillo Globe-News
Michael Cuviello, Amarillo Globe-News
December 24, 2023

Following the police graduation ceremony Thursday, Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley addressed some concerns from the public regarding the city council's recent special meeting, which had a lengthy virtual presentation from Dr. William Lile, an anti-abortion doctor from Pensacola, Florida, who has been a constant talking head on conservative news programs. 

“I want to stress the differentiation on the types of meetings and their decorum,” Stanley said, “in the way in which we are having a public council meeting for our community. We have different comments, presentations, and discussions. In that setting, we are not trying to limit just one side in a biased way when we are about to vote on a measure.” 

Stanley said that a work session is a vastly different meeting with just him and his other council members; the public is only invited to observe.

“The meeting is not tailored or constructed in a way that gives consideration to like their side of things. It is the side of where I am at with the draft that I am working on. It is the side where the rest of my council may or may not be at based on what staff are working on," Stanley said of the ordinance. "So, like the presenter is from Florida and a pro-life doctor, I would like to come back to the fact that it is appropriate in a work session.”

He said it is important to differentiate between the two types of meetings where the public are only bystanders in a special session.

When asked why Mark Lee Dickson was not asked to speak as an expert in “Sanctuary of the Unborn Cities” during the session, Stanley said he is a subject matter expert in his own agenda. 

“Dickson and I are not friends,” Stanley added. 

Stanley also wanted to make clear that he was not in favor of any ordinance that would restrict travel in any way and that the city would not look at passing such a measure. 

“I am definitely for pushing for public enforcement of regulated substance and human remains being treated appropriately,” he said. “I have heard from citizens that these are acceptable provisions in an ordinance. You must balance the protection of life and personal liberty. If we want to protect life at the expense of liberty totally, we are out of balance.” 

With some of the backlash from community members about his choice of doctor for the presentation, Stanley said that the purpose of the choice was to spotlight the advances in medicine to save life in the womb. 

“He is a subject matter expert on the abortion pill who is biased, but everybody at that table shares his bias,” he said. “I was not bringing something to the table that councilmembers did not already accept. I do agree that if you were trying to present in a public meeting for the community, that criticism.” 

Asked about the doctor’s opinion on the abortion pill not shared by a majority of the medical community being an issue, Stanley pushed back, saying that the presentation was more about showing that a life in the womb is still a patient and there are dangers surrounding the medication.

He also said that the presenter was chosen by himself on the recommendation of a physician's group that is well respected out of Midland, Lubbock, Dallas and Amarillo, of which Lile is affiliated. 

“He was showing you that it is a life or patient inside of the womb and should be treated as such,” Stanley said. “No, that pill has a 98% success rate of ending the life of the baby in the womb. Those are two patients and two people, so he was very accurate about what it does to the life inside the womb.” 

He said the trauma and harm it does to women taking the pill with no medical supervision is an issue. 

“The pill is very dangerous to the life of the unborn,” he said. “Also, it is dangerous to the mother. Think about the trauma and the harm that she goes through taking that pill without supervision in the privacy of her bathroom, possibly with no medical treatment, no true informed consent and no diagnosis of knowing what is in that pill. Yes, there is a risk in everything, and you can compare it to Tylenol, but we are looking at the possible danger it poses." 

Stanley said he was pleased with the crowd's behavior at the special meeting. He said that the city can expect actions to be taken and that there will be pushback from different sides. 

“This is a subject matter that there is no right answer,” Stanley said. “I will not put the title 'Sanctuary City' on any ordinance. My role is to truly represent my community for the life of all, including the unborn. Our goal is not to please everybody or people who may have interests served. To represent life, liberty and property, we must decide if this balances with protecting your liberties and life.”