LA council seeks to protect those seeking abortion care
The City Council Tuesday voted to begin preparing an ordinance that would prohibit the use of city resources to detain anyone seeking abortion care in Los Angeles, in response to the Supreme Court overturning federal abortion protections in June.
The council also instructed the City Attorney to prepare a draft ordinance and sought a report back on how the city could allocate funding to subsidize costs for people from other states seeking abortion care in the city.
Under the council’s recommendations, the city would also not cooperate with any out-of-state investigations of people seeking or aiding in abortion care in Los Angeles.
In September, City Attorney Mike Feuer proposed a law that would prohibit pregnancy service centers from misleading people about reproductive health services, including abortion, with tactics such as false advertising.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, around 6,200 people were projected to travel to Los Angeles County each year for abortion care, according to a UCLA study published in June. The study was based on the likelihood that 26 states would ban nearly all abortions after the court’s decision.