San Francisco Abandons Boycott of Pro-Life States After Disastrous Results

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Apr 26, 2023   |   4:35PM   |   San Francisco, California

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors abandoned its boycott of pro-life states Tuesday after city leaders said the action backfired, costing the city money and creating additional red tape.

National Review reports the board voted 7-4 to repeal the boycott, which prohibited the city government from traveling to and doing business with 30 states that passed pro-life and other conservative policies.

“It’s not achieving the goal we want to achieve,” Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. “It is making our government less efficient.”

Initially, the boycott applied to conservative states that passed laws regarding LGBTQ issues, but San Francisco leaders expanded it in 2019 to also boycott states that passed pro-life laws to protect unborn babies from abortion.

However, an analysis of the boycott in February found that its results were disastrous for San Francisco. The city administrator’s office report found that the boycott was hurting the city financially and did not have any effect on persuading states to abandon their pro-life laws.

The law “has created additional administrative burden for City staff and vendors and unintended consequences for San Francisco citizens, such as limiting enrichment and developmental opportunities,” the report found.

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Here’s more from National Review:

A budget and legislative analyst’s report also found the city had done business with the states on the boycott list. A one-year period between mid-2021 and mid-2022 saw waivers for contracts and purchase orders totaling $791 million. Meanwhile, the budget and legislative analyst also found that the city had spent nearly $475,000 in staffing expenses to carry out the boycott. …

The report also noted the boycott had other unwanted consequences, including adding more red tape for a program that paid for teens to visit historically black colleges and universities, as many HBCUs are located in banned states.

Meanwhile, San Francisco is facing a homeless crisis, housing and financial problems, drugs and violence, according to the Washington Examiner. At the meeting Tuesday, city leaders agreed that they should repeal the boycott to focus more on solving major problems.

California has very few limits on abortion, and it forces taxpayers to pay for them. A new law that went into effect in January forces all public colleges and universities to provide abortions on campus – even though California has the highest number of abortion facilities in the country: 168, according to an ANSIRH study.

Under another new law, nurses and other medical workers who are applying for licenses in the state may have their applications expedited if they agree to do abortions. California also began offering financial incentives to medical students to become abortionists this year.

In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget with $200 million dedicated specifically to expanding abortions, including a new, government-run website that tells women from other states how to come to California to abort their unborn babies.

It also includes $40 million to pay to abort unborn babies whose mothers do not already qualify for a Medicaid-funded abortion or have insurance coverage for the elective, life-destroying procedure, and $15 million to help pro-abortion groups advertise and promote abortions.

Then, earlier this month, Newsom said his administration bought 2 million doses of misoprostol, an ulcer drug used off label to abort unborn babies, to distribute in case the courts block access to the abortion drug mifepristone.

California aborted approximately 154,000 unborn babies in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute; but many expect those numbers will grow as a result of Democrats’ efforts.