Following the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich told MyMCM the county will work on advertising campaigns in states that roll back rights to attract businesses to the jurisdiction.
“And try to convince them to move to a place like Montgomery County, where there isn’t a war on women’s rights, or a war on people’s civil rights in general,” Elrich said during a media briefing Wednesday. He said it extends to the LGBTQ+ community.
“We want to make the point that your workforce deserves to be respected.” He said the county looks to retain a company to create the advertising.
Elrich announced last week he would implement a new policy for county employees prohibiting county payment for travel to states rolling back abortion rights.
“We will no longer authorize funding for out-of-state travel to places like Mississippi, Texas and Florida,” he said Wednesday. He clarified urgent public safety exceptions like mutual aid or search-and-rescue efforts in other jurisdictions. Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Dr. Earl Stoddard said police investigations and operations in other states, like transporting an arrestee, will continue to be permitted.
Elrich hopes other jurisdictions will make similar policies.
“What would be effective is if multiple jurisdictions did this and told conference-holders, ‘Don’t expect us to attend your conferences,'” he said. He thinks the larger impact will come from the effort to recruit businesses to the area.
