Seattle To Be Sanctuary For Abortion Providers, Patients

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Metropolis Council voted Tuesday to make the town a sanctuary for abortion suppliers and sufferers, which means Seattle police is not going to cooperate in arrests or investigations associated to abortion bans in different states.

The invoice, which Councilmember Kshama Sawant launched at a information convention the day the U.S. Supreme Court docket repealed decades-old constitutional protections over abortion, deems Seattle a “sanctuary metropolis” for individuals who search or present abortion, The Seattle Instances reported.

Whereas abortion stays authorized throughout Washington state, the brand new laws bars Seattle police from arresting folks on warrants issued in different jurisdictions or serving to in investigations associated to in search of or performing abortions. It follows the mannequin of Seattle’s Initiative 75, which equally stopped the Seattle Police Division from pursuing expenses primarily based on hashish, which stays federally unlawful.

“Legal guidelines violating fundamental bodily autonomy and criminalizing reproductive well being care are essentially unjust and we must always not permit Seattle to be complicit,” Sawant mentioned Tuesday, touting assist from 5,500 neighborhood members who signed a petition backing the laws.

Final month, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee joined with Oregon and California to refuse nonfugitive extradition for people dealing with legal prosecution for receiving reproductive well being care companies and develop entry to abortion care. Inslee’s extradition measure solely utilized to state police, nevertheless.

All three states anticipate an inflow of individuals in search of abortions within the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s June 24 choice overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 choice that had offered a constitutional proper to abortion, particularly as neighboring states akin to Idaho transfer to outlaw or principally prohibit the process.

Sawant mentioned she hopes Seattle is setting the instance of how one can defend these denied reproductive well being care elsewhere, noting that council members in Minneapolis and Chicago had reached out, indicating their intent to cross related insurance policies.

“If bringing it right here may help it unfold to different cities and states, the affect may very well be really profound,” Sawant mentioned earlier than the vote.

The invoice was authorised by all six council members at Tuesday’s assembly, whereas three have been absent.

Mayor Bruce Harrell mentioned in June that Seattle police wouldn’t pursue associated arrests “which might be inconsistent with Washington legal guidelines and most essential our values,” however Sawant’s is the primary concrete safety established within the metropolis for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court docket choice.

The council in August will think about two payments designed to guard these in search of abortion care from discrimination and penalize individuals who intervene with well being care together with abortions and gender-affirming care. The payments have been launched final week by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Tammy Morales.

“I’m actually trying ahead to working to search out methods to develop abortion entry and defend what can solely be known as medical refugees, people who find themselves coming right here and can’t obtain fundamental well being care of their house states,” Herbold mentioned Tuesday.