22 states blacklisted over abortion stance

City officials added 22 states with “restrictive abortion laws” to San Francisco’s blacklist, forbidding city employees from traveling to those places and making deals with businesses headquartered in those places.

City Administrator Naomi Kelly issued a memo to department heads and other highlevel staffers Tuesday indicating the states had been placed on the city’s blacklist.

The move followed the passage of legislation introduced by Supervisor Vallie Brown this summer that curbs cityfunded travel to states that restrict abortion before the viability of the fetus to live outside the womb, which include socalled “fetal heartbeat” laws. The city will also be prohibited from inking new contracts with businesses headquartered in those states.

“It’s an assault on women and women’s reproductive rights. And it’s also an economic hit on women: If you can’t decide when to start a family, it hits you economically,” Brown said.

The ban goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, and it does not apply retroactively — city contracts with businesses in banned states that last past 2020 will not be affected under Brown’s legislation.

“When we spend our money — our $12 billionplus budget — we should spend it on what we stand for and our values,” said Brown.

The newly blacklisted states are: 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.

They were selected following a review of state laws by the city’s Department on the Status of Women.

Nine of those states — Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas — were already on the city’s blacklist due to what city officials consider discriminatory LGBTQ laws and policies.

“By limiting travel and contracting with certain states, we are keeping our city funding out of the hands of states that disregard the constitutional right to abortion,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement.

Brown said she harbors no illusions that officials in Alabama or Kentucky or anywhere else will be swayed by San Francisco’s stance on their reproductive policies. But she hopes it will send a message to the electorate in those states.

“Let’s empower them. Let’s tell them, ‘You have allies. You can change your elected officials that target women.’ ”

— Dominic Fracassa