State laws should not be overwritten by cities
City wide governments should never be able to override state protected rights. This problem was brought up when certain cities in California attempted to ban abortion while the rights for this procedure is protected by state law.
When abortion was denied as a federal issue when Roe v Wade was overturned June 24, 2022, it made it clear that abortion must stay with the state. It seems as though the conservative majority supreme court made this move knowing that many republican states would immediately create laws against this procedure, the first steps to what they hope will be an abortion-free nation. Abortion rights need to be taken seriously and not dealt with in a rudimentary manner but in recent events, some cities in our home state have attempted to make abortion-free bubbles–a scary testament to what could be our reality if city government has the ability to make laws that trump state laws.
This August, Orange County’s San Clemente City Council attempted to eliminate abortion in the city by proposing to make the procedure illegal in the confines of the city limit. Having been raised in this small town, an attempt to tackle abortion at such a local and attainable level is concerning. Hearing the proposal, I immediately thought of my close friends and family that could be affected if the ban were passed. Fortunately, San Clemente’s people took to the streets, and their assertion against the motion succeeded in striking the issue down. Nevertheless, this event caused many to wonder: if communities can attempt to pass laws on something as serious as abortion, what else could be next?
Additionally, last month, the Temecula City Council proposed a similar ban, inspired by the San Clemente case and confirming its impact. Both propositions were struck down by majority vote, yet neither was unanimous. There are still public figures advocating for the overturn of abortion rights on a city-wide level, a clear abuse of the localized power they were granted. City level politicians should not be allowed to make decisions passed at the state level; these politicians need to stay in their lane and stick to city budgets and public education in school districts.
When the wrong people are put into power, matters such as public education could be taken into consideration. In our very own school district, followers of school board meetings have observed conservative parents attempting to strike down principal aspects of education, such as our health curriculum. These old-fashioned values have fortunately not been adopted into our school district but easily could be if our board were of a conservative majority. The same goes for city-wide politics.
State laws are in place for a reason and need to be upheld by the residing city officials. Situations such as what occurred in San Clemente and Temecula must be prevented, as they are bound to keep happening if nothing is done. In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 1, which will establish concrete abortion rights in our the Constitution of California. All who can vote must vote to secure these rights in California and avoid further conflicts regarding abuse of local power.
