Danville, Ill., my hometown, isn’t used to national headlines. The small city of 29,000 usually slips under the radar unless Dick Van Dyke, our most famous native son, pops back for a visit.

But recently, Danville was thrust into the abortion debate after the city council voted to ban the mailing of abortion pills into town.

The city council, whose normal business includes potholes, zoning and trash pickup, decided suddenly to regulate the U.S. Postal Service and the practice of medicine. Neither, of course, is remotely within its authority.

Worse still, the measure wasn’t even popular. The vote split seven to seven and only passed because the mayor cast the tiebreaking vote.

What happened in Danville may sound like a small-town dust-up, but it’s a window into the broader post-Dobbs landscape: cities and counties experimenting with laws that overstep their authority and distract from real policy fights.

The driving force behind Danville’s new law is no mystery. A clinic that plans........

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