The City of San Francisco blacklisted 22 states, preventing city employees from traveling to them using city funds. Why? Because these states have pro-life laws that seek to protect the unborn.
Announcing the ban, which is due to take effect in January 2020, San Fran’s Mayor London Breed declared that he was “standing up against states that put women’s health at risk and that are actively working to limit reproductive freedoms.”
“By limiting travel and contracting with certain states, we are sending a clear message to states that disregard the right to abortion,” he added in a statement.
In supporting comments issued through the Mayor’s office, City Supervisor Vallie Brown delcared that “reproductive rights” were “being attacked from Washington and state houses across the country,” and that it was “imperative that San Francisco step up and fight back.”
“By restricting travel to states with restrictive abortion laws and that limit access to reproductive health, we are showing our commitment to women, trans men, and nonbinary people in San Francisco and across the country,” she added. “Let’s empower them. Let’s tell them, ‘You have allies. You can change your elected officials that target women.’”
Nine of the states named by the city were already included in a previous blacklist of those thought to be discriminating against LGBT people.
The newly blacklisted states are listed as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Many pro-life politicians hit back at the latest ban. “Nebraska is a proudly #prolife state,” tweeted Governor Pete Ricketts
Executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco, Terrisa Bukovinac, called the ban nothing more than a “PR tactic.”
“I don’t think [San Francisco’s government] has any real power with this boycott,” she told The Daily Signal. “It’s a PR tactic. This [resolution] is an attempt to fire up their base, but I don’t think that even they expect this to stand up to actual scrutiny in a courtroom.”
Bukovinac added that “a lot of California’s wokeness is in a way that seems to benefit massive corporations.”
“San Francisco is riding the coattails of that mindset.”