How blue – and red – cities are resisting state abortion laws

Amid the mudslide of legal questions set off by the end of Roe v. Wade is the role of local resistance. With the right to abortion once again left to states, officials in more than a dozen cities are testing their limited leverage to safeguard abortion access. While local governments generally cannot refuse to enforce state laws like abortion bans, legal experts say, some are declining to assist in the prosecution of people who violate the bans. 

Some blue city leaders in red states frame their pushback – however symbolic – as...