Jason Rantz: Seattle City Council moving to make women seeking abortions a protected class

Radio host Jason Rantz lives in Seattle so the rest of us don’t have to, and he sends up warning flares now and then whenever the city is preparing to do something particularly stupid. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, Seattle City Council foresees a lot of pregnant women coming to the city seeking abortions, and it’s introduced legislation to make those women a protected class.

NEW: The Seattle City Council is ready to pretend women choosing abortions must be a protected class.

Not only is this unnecessary, and likely already protected, it demeans people who have actually suffered from discrimination in the city.https://t.co/W9TVNGl1xd

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) July 25, 2022

Rantz writes:

“The idea is to create, as a protected class, people who are seeking abortions, especially because we anticipate that there will be a lot of people coming to Washington seeking care,” said [council member Tammy] Morales.

The legislation adds protections for “an individual’s actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes.” Morales’ reasoning is both ridiculous and wholly contrived.

“We want to make sure that they aren’t targeted by restaurants or hotels or any other sort of entity that they are visiting while they’re here seeking that care,” she said.

We like the way she refers to abortion as “care.”

The proposed ordinance proclaims that:

“The state shall not penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against an individual based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes” …

… restricting and/or denying access to abortion services will have a disproportionate impact on poor communities and Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) communities …

… the City recognizes that transgender and gender diverse people with the capacity to become pregnant face increased barriers and stigma when accessing abortion services ….