Gov. Kevin Stitt announced an executive order to ban state-funded travel to the state of California, according to a press release.
Stitt issued an executive order Thursday in response to actions taken in October by the city of San Francisco banning city-funded travel to Oklahoma, according to the release. The order bans “non-essential travel to the state of California for all employees or officers of agencies” paid for by Oklahoma.
“If California’s elected officials don’t want public employees traveling to Oklahoma, I am eager to return the gesture on behalf of Oklahoma’s pro-life stance,” Stitt said in the release.
In October, San Francisco implemented a city ordinance banning business with 22 states with “severe anti-choice” laws, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
“California and its elected officials over the past few years have banned travel to the State of Oklahoma in an effort to politically threaten and intimidate Oklahomans for their personal values,” Stitt said in the release.
In 2018, the California State Assembly added Oklahoma to its state-sponsored travel ban list for laws it considers discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals, according to a release from the California Attorney General’s office.
The state-sponsored travel ban came after former Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill allowing private adoption agencies to refuse to place a child if the placement “violates its written religious practices,” according to a release from the governor’s office in May 2018.
“I am proud to be governor of a state that fights for the most vulnerable among us, the unborn,” Stitt said.
