Los Angeles County Implements One-Year Travel Ban to Alabama Over New Abortion Law
In response to Alabama’s strict new abortion law, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to institute a one-year travel ban to the Yellowhammer state for county business.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who authored the travel measure, said in a statement that Alabama’s new abortion law is an “attack not only confined to the residents of those states, but an act of aggression upon all of us.”
Solis claimed in the statement that a woman’s right to an abortion is “part of the very fabric of the United States.”
“We must stand in solidarity and in opposition against extremist and unconstitutional laws that put the health and wellbeing of families at risk,” Solis continued. “The constitutional and human right to a safe and legal abortion is part of the very fabric of the United States.”
“As such, Los Angeles County will stand against all attempts to dismantle the protections afforded by Roe v. Wade and the U.S. Constitution.
Solis said the board’s vote on the travel measure “sends a strong signal that infringing upon an individual’s rights to reproductive health and privacy are not American values.”
The co-author of the statement, L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, said, “Everyone knows that banning abortion won’t stop women from accessing abortion services even when it puts them in unsafe medical situations.”
Kuehl also claimed women who are “poor” in Alabama will not be able to safely access abortion.
“In Alabama, women who have the money will be able to safely access abortion, but women who are poor will not,” Kuehl said in the released statement. “Women across the country must resist legislation that will limit reproductive choices that are essential to every woman’s health.”
The motion would also prohibit those conducting official L.A. County business to travel to Alabama except in cases of “emergency response, training, or assistance, or other legally-required matters where the failure to authorize such travel would seriously harm the County’s interests.”
According to the office, a letter will be sent to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey expressing the board’s distaste for the bill.