“Under state law abortions are legal at least to the point that the standard Roe had,” Mainero said. Legal precedent was set in the appellate courts on the question. Even city residents who believe abortion should be outlawed don’t want their City Council deciding what rights they do and don’t have.”Ĭhapman University law professor Mario Mainero pointed out that the issue of whether a city can act independently of state law has already been addressed in recent years when Huntington Beach failed in its lawsuit to stop the state’s sanctuary state policy for immigrants living in the country illegally and when the county failed to try to enforce a law to prohibit registered sex offenders from all parks. “And this is absolutely not what any city voter wants their City Council to be doing.
“There’s nothing to this, no capacity for this to be successful.
#Next meeting series#
“This is akin to The Little Rascals putting on a show,” Smith said, referring to group of child actors who starred in a series of comedy short films from 1922 to 1944. The mayor said the council received threats over the divisive issue that had to be referred to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office. “We did rush this, and the reason why we rushed it was many of you wrote to us wanting it rushed,” James said.
It is a slippery slope, and it’s one that this society is going to have to deal with,” Knoblock added.Ĭouncilman Gene James took responsibility for holding the special meeting on short notice. “That’s why I suggested this city take an action to oppose that. “In the state of California, the Democrat-controlled legislature and governor has put on the agenda the unfettered constitutional right for a woman to kill her baby clear up any time through delivery, through the entire 10 months … That can of worms has been opened. The issue of abortion is a public policy issue that is now at the forefront of society,” he said. This resolution didn’t open a can of worms. “There was a lot of discussion today about the can of worms being opened. Mayor Pro-Tem Chris Duncan called the resolution an attempt to “subjugate women and girls like my daughters into second-class citizens.”īut Knoblock, the lone vote against pulling the resolution, offered a fiery defense of his actions. The resolution would have called for the south Orange County city to become a “Sanctuary For Life,” and blocked the zoning or permitting of any facility that would provide an abortion in the city.
Many also expressed concern about the effect of such a move on the city’s reputation and business interests.Ī smaller number expressed support for the resolution and praised Knoblock for his courage in bringing it forward. The majority of residents who addressed the council during Saturday’s special meeting criticized Councilman Steve Knoblock’s proposal, accusing Knoblock of over-reaching and seeking to impose his personal religious beliefs on the city’s women. 16 meeting that sought to ban abortions in the city, after hearing from mostly outraged citizens during a public comment period that lasted about two hours. The San Clemente City Council voted 3-1 Saturday to remove a resolution from its Aug.