Washington
Seattle to be sanctuary for abortion patients and providers
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday to make the city a sanctuary for abortion providers and patients, meaning Seattle police will not cooperate in arrests or investigations related to abortion bans in other states.
The bill, which Councilmember Kshama Sawant introduced at a news conference the day the U.S. Supreme Court repealed decades-old constitutional protections over abortion, deems Seattle a “sanctuary city” for those who seek or provide abortion, The Seattle Times reported.
While abortion remains legal across Washington state, the new legislation bars Seattle police from arresting people on warrants issued in other jurisdictions or helping in investigations related to seeking or performing abortions. It follows the model of Seattle’s Initiative 75, which similarly stopped the Seattle Police Department from pursuing charges based on cannabis, which remains federally illegal.
“Laws violating basic bodily autonomy and criminalizing reproductive health care are fundamentally unjust and we should not allow Seattle to be complicit,” Sawant said Tuesday, touting support from 5,500 community members who signed a petition backing the legislation.
Last month, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee joined with Oregon and California to refuse nonfugitive extradition for individuals facing criminal prosecution for receiving reproductive health care services and expand access to abortion care. Inslee’s extradition measure only applied to state police, however.
All three states anticipate an influx of people seeking abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion, especially as neighboring states such as Idaho move to outlaw or mostly restrict the procedure.
Sawant said she hopes Seattle is setting the example of how to protect those denied reproductive health care elsewhere, noting that council members in Minneapolis and Chicago had reached out, indicating their intent to pass similar policies.
“If bringing it here can help it spread to other cities and states, the impact could be truly profound,” Sawant said before the vote.
The bill was approved by all six council members at Tuesday’s meeting, while three were absent.
Mayor Bruce Harrell said in June that Seattle police would not pursue related arrests “that are inconsistent with Washington laws and most important our values,” but Sawant’s is the first concrete protection established in the city since the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The council in August will consider two bills designed to protect those seeking abortion care from discrimination and penalize people who interfere with health care including abortions and gender-affirming care. The bills were introduced last week by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Tammy Morales.
“I’m really looking forward to working to find ways to expand abortion access and protect what can only be called medical refugees, people who are coming here and cannot receive basic health care in their home states,” Herbold said Tuesday.
Pennsylvania
Rep. says no to gay marriage, attends son’s same-sex wedding
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania representative attended the same-sex wedding of his son three days after voting against legislation to protect the recognition of same-sex marriages.
Rep. Glenn Thompson, a Republican who represents a large swath of conservative northern Pennsylvania, voted against the bill brought by Democrats to the floor of the U.S. House.
The vote came amid concerns that the Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion access could jeopardize other rights aside from access to abortion, including 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which established the rights of same-sex couples to marry nationwide.
The bill protecting the recognition passed 267-157 Tuesday, July 19, with 47 Republicans — including three from Pennsylvania — joining every Democrat in backing it.
On Friday, Thompson attended the same-sex wedding of his son.
“Congressman and Mrs. Thompson were thrilled to attend and celebrate their son’s marriage on Friday night as he began this new chapter in his life,” Thompson’s office said in a statement. “The Thompsons are very happy to welcome their new son-in-law into their family.”
Thompson’s press secretary also called the bill “nothing more than an election-year messaging stunt for Democrats in Congress who have failed to address historic inflation and out of control prices at gas pumps and grocery stores.”
The House bill would require the federal and state governments to recognize same-sex marriages, but would not stop a state from banning such marriages in the future.
In 2014, a federal judge struck down Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban, and then-Gov. Tom Corbett declined to appeal it.
Louisiana
Appeals court upholds Texas block on school mask mandates
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that forbids school districts from imposing mask mandates on schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has been upheld by a divided federal appeals court panel.
The ruling from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ended a lower federal court injunction allowing such mandates.
Families of seven children with disabilities — the court record listed Down syndrome, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity, epilepsy, heart defects and cerebral palsy, among others — had sued, saying the children were vulnerable and that the lack of a masking requirement at their schools endangered their health.
Writing for the majority in a 2-1 ruling Monday, Judge Andrew Oldham said there are other options for schools to accommodate the children’s health concerns. He specifically mentioned vaccines, plexiglass barriers, use of hand sanitizer and social distancing.
“It is plainly within the State’s power to remove one possible accommodation from consideration, so long as other reasonable options remain,” Oldham wrote in the opinion issued Monday, rejecting arguments that the prohibition on mask mandates violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal law. Judge Don Willett concurred in the judgment.
Judge W. Eugene Davis dissented. Davis agreed that the lower court injunction was “overbroad.” But, he said, the courts should allow the school districts to impose mask mandates at the schools attended by the seven students.
“Because of their disabilities and based on the testimony of their personal physicians, the district court found that because of their heightened susceptibility of contracting COVID-19 and, if contracted, a heightened risk of severe illness or death from it, the children could not safely attend school where they would be in close proximity to unmasked students or staff members,” Davis wrote.
The 5th Circuit handles appeals of federal decisions in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Oldham and Willett were appointed to the court by former President Donald Trump; Davis, by former President Ronald Reagan.
