Shortly after evangelicals discovered the abortion issue late in the 1970s (long after the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973), they became some of the antiabortion movement’s most devoted apostles. The best known group in the early years of activism was Operation Rescue, founded by Randall Terry in 1986 with the slogan, “If you believe abortion is murder, act like it’s murder.”

Roman Catholics, of course, have a long tradition of regarding abortion as killing, albeit after quickening, but Protestants, especially evangelicals like Terry, were new to the issue. Nevertheless, they pursued their agenda with the fervor of converts. They staged demonstrations and blockaded abortion clinics, culminating in 1991 with a massive protest dubbed Summer of Mercy in Wichita, Kan.

Now, with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, evangelicals in the antiabortion movement have shifted their focus to the states, seeking to resurrect old laws or legislate new ones either outlawing completely or severely restricting access to reproductive health. In addition, a new and different wave of activism has surfaced, much of it focused on New Mexico.

One of these activists, according to reporting in Huffington Post, Texas Tribune and The Washington Post, is Mark Lee Dickson, a Texan from Longview who describes himself as a pastor and a 30-something virgin. (It’s not clear to me why we need to know about the latter, but he seems eager to share that information.)

In 2019, after Dickson heard rumors that an abortion clinic in Shreveport, La., was considering a relocation across the Texas border to Waskom because of Louisiana restrictions, he jumped into action. Although the rumors were unfounded, Dickson enlisted the help of Jonathan F. Mitchell, former solicitor general of Texas, to persuade the all-male city council in Waskom to outlaw abortion within city limits. The legislation, passed in June 2019, empowered Waskom citizens to uphold the law by granting them permission to sue abortion providers.

Dickson was elated and happy to share credit with the Almighty. “All I did was answer a call. All I did was go where the Lord was calling me to go,” he said. “I did not go forward thinking I could do this on my own. I went forward saying, ‘God help me. God help this city. I can’t do this alone. We can’t do this alone. We are going to need your help.’ ”

Since then, Dickson has traveled to 400 cities in Texas trying to pressure local authorities into declaring their municipalities “sanctuary cities for the unborn,” where no abortions could take place. Despite the fact that most of these places had no facilities where abortion services were provided, nearly 50 cities adopted his proposal, including Lubbock, in northwest Texas, population 270,000. The measure forced Planned Parenthood, the city’s sole provider, to halt abortions.

Municipalities in other states have followed this model, including Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska and Ohio. More important, Dickson’s efforts in Texas provided the model for the state’s vigilante-enforced antiabortion law, Senate Bill 8, the so-called Texas Heartbeat Act, which became law in May 2021. Drafted by Mitchell, an anti-union attorney and Dickson’s collaborator in Waskom, the act deputizes and incentivizes citizens to sue anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion after an embryo’s cardiac activity is detected, typically about six weeks into gestation.

“We would not have the Texas abortion law without Waskom,” according to Mary Ziegler, law professor and legal historian at Florida State University.

It should surprise no one to learn that Dickson, who has acknowledged battles with depression, is a supporter of Donald Trump, whom he characterizes as “the most pro-life president in history.” Dickson subscribes to the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, and he attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, although he insists he did not enter the Capitol.

Having effectively shut down abortion in Texas, Dickson has now set his sights on New Mexico, a state where abortion is still legal and where many women from Texas and Oklahoma have fled for reproductive health care. Dickson has initially focused his efforts on Lovington, Clovis and Hobbs, all of them near the Texas border. As he did in Waskom and elsewhere, Dickson is pushing civic leaders to declare their municipalities “sanctuary cities for the unborn.”

“We know that abortion providers want to set up right here in these cities that are just minutes away from the Texas border,” Dickson said after a recent Hobbs City Commission meeting. “They want to attract as many Texas residents as possible for abortions right here in New Mexico.”

Dickson has also inserted himself into the state’s politics, where Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Democratic governor, is seeking reelection against Mark Ronchetti, an antiabortion Republican.

Dickson characterizes Ronchetti, who is on record as opposing abortion “at all stages,” as a “serious upgrade” from Lujan Grisham, and Dickson’s Facebook page dispenses the following wisdom: “New Mexicans, this election may be the most important Governor election in your life. For the sake of the future of New Mexico, please do not miss your opportunity and please do not waste your vote.”

On the eve of the midterm elections, that sounds like good advice — in New Mexico, New Hampshire and elsewhere. Even Texas.

Randall Balmer, who teaches at Dartmouth College, is the author of Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right.