Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a coalition of Republican attorneys general calling on Maine to drop a proposed “totalitarian” bill that would impede other states’ ability to enforce their own laws restricting transgender surgeries for children.
The attorneys general say the proposal would turn Maine into a “sanctuary state” for the controversial medical procedures.
Supporters of the bill, such as Planned Parenthood and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, say it protects Maine’s medical providers from legal action in other states regarding access to “gender-affirming care” and abortion.
Opponents, such as the Maine Republican Party, have labeled the measure a “transgender trafficking bill,” arguing that it interferes with parental rights and establishes Maine as a sanctuary state for abortion and sex change treatments for minors.
Amid fierce debate over the bill, 16 Republican attorneys general, led by Mr. Skrmetti, have weighed in on the matter, threatening legal action if Maine leaders press ahead with the measure.
‘Totalitarian’
Mr. Skrmetti and the others argue that LD 227 would undermine states’ ability to enforce their own laws by establishing a liability shield for those who offer or assist with services to out-of-state visitors that may be legal in Maine but are illegal in those other states.He and the GOP attorneys general wrote that the “lawful policy choices” of other states would be undercut by the proposed bill, which would impose “on the rest of the country Maine’s views on hotly debated issues such as gender transition surgeries for children.”
Sex-reassignment surgeries and treatments for minors have become a hot-button issue in state legislatures nationwide, as Democrat and Republican lawmakers advocate for bills that either advance or restrict such procedures. At least 19 states have passed laws that shield children from transgender surgeries and procedures, which proponents tend to call “gender-affirming care.”
“It’s a fundamental principle of America that different states can approach controversial issues differently,” Mr. Skrmetti said in a statement.
“Creating new avenues of lawfare at the state level to harass officials in other states would catastrophically destabilize our constitutional order,” he continued. “If legislators in Maine don’t like Tennessee’s laws, they are free to continue not living in Tennessee.”
The attorneys general call LD 227 a “totalitarian” attempt by Maine to oppress voices in other states who dissent from the progressive orthodoxy on issues such as abortion and transgender procedures for children.
“If Maine pursues LD 227’s constitutionally defective approach, we will vigorously avail ourselves of every recourse our Constitution provides,” they wrote in the letter.
By contrast, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, which works in New England to create a “just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression,” said in a statement that LD 227 is a “straightforward” bill that seeks to “protect Maine health care workers who provide essential, legal-in-Maine reproductive health care and transgender health care grounded in standards of care.”
The advocacy group says the bill “recognizes the very real efforts of actors outside of Maine to impose the hostile laws of other states against providers and patients in Maine.”
The group notes that there are over a dozen states that have enacted similar “shield laws for these same reasons.”
‘Culture War Litigation Tourism’
LD 227 would extend legal protections for people seeking, providing, and assisting in the provision of sex change surgeries and abortions, regardless of whether they are Maine residents or out-of-state visitors.It would prohibit agencies, including law enforcement, from cooperating with investigations into aiding and assisting activities related to sex change operations or abortions.
Any “interference” with access to sex change surgery, hormonal therapies, breast binders, and abortion is deemed by the proposed new law to be “against public policy.”
The proposal states that Maine would not issue or honor summonses, warrants, or subpoenas, or make arrests, except under narrowly specified legal circumstances.
Maine would also be prohibited from extraditing anyone solely for engaging in or aiding and assisting “legally protected health care activity,” unless the accused was physically present in the other state when the alleged offense was committed.
The bill also forbids Maine courts from issuing a search warrant for cellphone information that relates to the provision of abortions or sex change surgeries for children.
Furthermore, parents from another state who file a legal action in their home state to prevent the trafficking of their child to Maine for a sex change operation can be sued in Maine courts by the transporter for punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview that the bill “most certainly undermines parental decision-making.”
‘Extreme Bill’
Republican state Rep. Joshua Morris, the ranking member on the Maine House of Representatives’ Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services Committee, responded to the letter from the 16 GOP attorneys general with a statement that urged his fellow lawmakers to drop LD 227 quickly.“It’s no exaggeration that this bill will allow some of the worst of our society—child traffickers and abusers—to feel welcome and safe in Maine. Last week, my committee heard strong opposition from hundreds of Mainers from Fort Kent to Kittery and now we have heard from the top law enforcement officials in [16] states that it’s a dangerous idea,” Mr. Morris continued.
“I call on the Democrats on the committee to join me along with my Republican colleagues to swiftly move to kill this bill and avoid making Maine into Vacationland for those who would hurt children,” he added.
Last week, lawmakers in Maine held a public hearing on the bill.
Patience Crozier, director of family advocacy for GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, testified that the measure was about protecting patients and providers in Maine from legal attacks from other states.
“I think, in Maine, where reproductive and transgender health care is legal, this bill is really important to state the values of Maine and make sure that we’re protecting our providers from those attacks from other states,” she added.
Lisa Margulies. vice president of public affairs in Maine for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, was quoted by WGME as saying that the bill is “fundamentally about access to health care and resisting the devastating impact of health care restrictions enacted by other states,” which she claimed were enacted not for medical reasons, but for political ones.
“It’s not science, it is politics,” he said. “Europe is moving toward freedom ... while we are headed toward more socialism and totalitarianism.”
Mr. Barke argued that performing gender transition surgery on minors is a “grotesque” form of child abuse that “should be illegal.”
