MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County has effectively frozen travel for employees on official county business to 25 states that restrict access to reproductive health care.
"These states have demonstrated a hostility to reproductive freedom, individual autonomy, and access to safe reproductive health treatments," Chief Administrative Officer Richard S. Madaleno said in a memo Friday to the county's executive branch and office directors.
The memo came in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade Friday, which protected the right to an abortion for almost half a century.
The travel freeze includes both county-funded travel and travel funded by "an outside entity," according to the memo. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-base basis.
"Department leaders are urged to enforce the new policy," county spokesman Joe Dominguez told WUSA Saturday.
As for existing travel to these states approved before Friday's ruling, the memo notes that these arrangements "must be cancelled," provided that it can be done without monetary penalties.