House Republicans in Tennessee advanced legislation on Tuesday that would ban public schools from using textbooks or materials that “promote, normalize, support or address LGBT issues or lifestyles.”
Critics argue the bill is similar to a measure that Florida’s Republican-dominated legislature passed just hours earlier, which would forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
The Tennessee version would apply to all K-12 public schools. A House panel on Tuesday approved sending it it to the full chamber for a vote. The bill has not yet made much progress in Senate.
“I think most parents would like the sexuality of our children to be left to our parents in the home and not part of a curriculum,” said Republican Rep. Bruce Griffey, the bill’s sponsor. “And the vast number of parents also feel like materials that promote LGBTQ issues and lifestyles that should be subject to the same restrictions and limitation that there are on religious teachings that are not allowed in our schools.”
Since being elected to the House in 2018, Griffey has not had much political sway inside the GOP-dominated Statehouse. He has become known for introducing some of the more attention-grabbing contentious proposals each legislative session, but they rarely advance.
Nevertheless, Republicans on the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill, with one GOP member thanking Griffey for sponsoring the bills.
According to the legislation, the state’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission would be banned from recommending textbooks and instructional materials that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles” that would be used in public schools. If approved, the measure would apply to textbooks approved by the commission after July 1.
“What you’re saying to them and to the rest of us is that that ‘We don’t want to know that you’re here. We don’t want our children to know that you even exist,’” said Democratic Rep. Larry Miller. “How unamerican … how embarrassing that is.”
Republican Gov. Bill Lee has not publicly weighed in on the legislation, but the governor has never vetoed a bill while in office.
Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender
Court upholds order stopping child abuse investigation into Texas trans teen’s family
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/09/ken-paxton-appeal-trans-teen-family/
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion last month that equated gender-affirming care with child abuse. Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune
For LGBTQ mental health support, call the Trevor Project’s 24/7 toll-free support line at 866-488-7386. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 800-273-8255 or texting 741741.
A Texas appeals court sided with the parents of a transgender teenager in a ruling Wednesday, rejecting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to allow a child abuse investigation to proceed.
The ruling will allow a lower court to hold a hearing, scheduled for Friday, where lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal will ask a judge to stop the state from launching child abuse investigations against parents who have obtained gender-affirming care for their transgender children.
“This crisis in Texas is continuing every day, with state leaders weaponizing the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate families, invade their privacy, and trample on the rights of parents simply for providing the best possible health care for their kids under the guidance of doctors and medical best practices. This appeal was always groundless and DFPS and the courts need to stop this egregious government overreach,” said Brian Klosterboer, an attorney with ACLU of Texas.
The Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a nonbinding legal opinion issued in mid-February, Paxton equated gender-affirming care with child abuse. Gov. Greg Abbott followed that with a letter directing Texas Child Protective Services to open investigations into families that provide this care to their children.
While most gender-affirming care focuses on “social transition” — allowing a child to express their gender how they’d like — some transgender children take puberty blockers, a completely reversible medical treatment that’s prescribed for a wide range of situations beyond transition. Paxton and Abbott also cited concerns over gender-affirming surgeries that are rarely, if ever, used on children.
The state has opened at least five child welfare investigations into parents of trans children since Abbott issued his directive on Feb. 22, though the real number may be much higher. The state has declined to provide the number of active investigations, citing the pending litigation.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal have sued on behalf of a state worker who has a trans child and alleges she was put on leave and investigated by CPS after asking questions about the directive.
Last week, state District Judge Amy Clark Meachum granted a temporary restraining order blocking the state from investigating the family. Paxton immediately appealed that ruling, and on Wednesday, the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to proceed.
Meachum also scheduled a hearing for Friday to hear arguments on whether to grant a temporary injunction until trial, and whether it should extend to all parents of transgender children.
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/92660cbff4de9aab35f482b197680fd1/Paxton%20Watch%20Party%20ST%20TT%2008.jpg)
Florida Republican accidentally fact-checks his own lie that the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill doesn’t single out gays
https://www.rawstory.com/florida-dont-say-gay-bill/
The Florida Senate debated the frequently referred to “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Monday, but one Republican spoke in such circles that he ultimately ended up fact-checking himself.
Responding to comments from one Democrat about why the GOP doesn’t care about talk of drugs, rape, murder or other topics. Instead, Republicans are more focused on addressing issues like civil rights and LGBTQ equality.
When state Senator Dennis Baxley spoke for “hours” according to one Miami reporter for CBS4. Baxley told his colleagues that the bill didn’t single out gays. Finally, however, he talked himself in such circles that he confessed he was scared by kids identifying as gay to be seen as school “celebrities.”
For years, a non-profit group called the Trevor Project has fought the violence and bullying LGBTQ+ children face in schools. A flood of people posted videos talking about how awful it was to grow up as “different” and the bullying they faced. They promised in the videos, “it gets better.”
After hours of denying his bill singled out gays, Senator @dennisbaxley admitted the so-called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill was drafted because he was personally concerned so many kids today identify as gay and see themselves as \u201ccelebrities.\u201d @CBSMiamipic.twitter.com/VI9cGiBNiN— Jim DeFede (@Jim DeFede) 1646701733
Florida legislature passes bill to restrict LGBTQ topics in elementary schools
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/08/florida-bill-lgbtq-schools/
Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), left, speaks about his proposed amendment to a Republican bill, dubbed by opponents the “don’t say gay” bill, at the Florida Capitol on March 7, 2022. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
“We are going to make sure parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into some of their school curriculum,” said DeSantis, who accused the media of misinterpreting the bill.
The legislation, officially called the Parental Rights in Education bill, would prohibit Florida schools from teaching students in kindergarten through third grade about topics involving sexual orientation or gender identity.
Lessons for older grades would have to be “age appropriate,” which Democrats argue is so vague that it will stifle all conversations about LGBTQ issues. Republicans played down that risk, saying the legislation prevents “planned lessons” but does not ban discussions between students or prevent teachers from answering specific questions from a student.
The measure also allows parents to sue school districts if they think their children have received inappropriate lessons. Democrats said that could result in awave of lawsuits against cash-strapped school systems.
“I believe this will be another stain on the history of Florida,” said Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), who in 2018 became the first openly gay member of the Florida Senate. “Whether you disagree with the messaging or not, when it comes to people calling it the ‘don’t say gay’ bill … it hurts people.”
The Florida legislation is one of a raft of bills around the country designed to put new restrictions on teachers and administrators related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Lawmakers in at least nine states are considering proposals such as banning library books with LGBTQ content or prohibiting teachers from discussing words such as “transgender” in the classroom, according to according to Pen America, a freedom of expression advocacy group.
On Friday, the Oklahoma Senate advanced a bill that bans books from school libraries if the “primary subject” deals with “sexual lifestyles or sexual activity” or anything “of a controversial nature that a reasonable parent” would object to.
Within minutes of Florida’sbill passing by on a largely party-line vote of 22 to 17, LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida vowed it will pursue legal action if the bill is “interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher or family.” The Biden administration also said it will closely monitor how the legislation is implemented, noting that federal civil rights law prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
“The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.”
The Senate vote followed two days of emotional debate in which Democrats pleaded with their Republican colleagues to consider the impact the legislation would have on gay and transgender children, as well as students who have two parents of the same sex.
Although two Republicans voted against the bill, most GOP senators countered that legislation was needed to clarify that it was up to parents to decidewhen and how their children learn about matters involving sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Growing up today is very hard. Raising kids today is so challenging,” said Sen. Danny Burgess (R). “In these uncertain times, our default position should be to trust parents to do what is best for their children.”
At one point during the debate, Sen. Dennis Baxley (R), a sponsor of the bill, suggested the legislation was also designed to try to slow the numbers of young people who are coming out as a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
“All of the sudden, overnight, they’re a celebrity when they felt like they were a nobody,” Baxley said as he described hearing stories of young people coming out. “I know parents are very concerned about the departure from the core belief systems and values,” he added.
Sen. Tina Scott Polsky, a Democrat, responded to Baxley. “There seems to be a big uptick in the number of children coming out as gay or experimenting, and therefore we need not to discuss it in younger grades?” she asked.
In a survey released last month, Gallup found that a record 7.1 percent of U.S. adults self-identify lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. The increase was especially pronounced in Generation Z’ers who have reached adulthood, with 21 percent of them identifying that way.
In Florida, high school students who make up part of Gen Z have led the fight over the parental rights legislation, staging several classroom walkouts across the state in protest of it.
Mason Steinberg, a 10th-grader at Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Fla., estimated that three-fourths of the students walked out of class last Thursday.
“This bill would not affect me directly, but I have many LGBTQ+ friends who would be impacted significantly,” said Steinberg, 16. “People who were not directly affected by the bill walked out because they care about their friends, and will do whatever they can to make them feel safe.”
Will Larkins, a gay and nonbinary 11th-grader at Winter Park High School in central Florida, helped organize the walkout at their school Monday.
In an interview after the Senate vote Tuesday, Larkins said they were “really scared” that lawmakers had “validated these bigoted ideas” by supporting the legislation.
“Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to queer people and I hated myself by fourth grade. … Knowing that I’m different and not knowing why, and not having an explanation was awful for me,” Larkins said. “And knowing that we’re solidifying that into law is so disturbing.”
The school curriculum bill is just the latest in a series of measures approved by the Florida legislature in recent years that are seemingly at odds with the wishes of the state’s younger residents. Florida students have also walked out in opposition to looser gun regulations as well as a bill last year that cracked down on protests in wake of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
The leaders of some major corporations, meanwhile, are being asked to pick a side in the state’s increasingly bitter cultural divisions.
Two weeks ago, dozens of Disney World employees demonstrated outside the theme park demanding that the company speak out in opposition to the legislation.
Although Disney’s former CEO Robert Iger spoke out against the legislation, some employees were incensed that the company’s current leadership appeared hesitant to get involved in the debate. On Monday, Disney chief executive Bob Chapek released a companywide statement defending the company’s decision to remain silent.
“I do not want anyone to mistake a lack of a statement for a lack of support,” Chapek wrote. “We all share the same goal of a more tolerant, respectful world. Where we may differ is in the tactics to get there. And because this struggle is much bigger than any one bill in any one state, I believe the best way for our company to bring about lasting change is through the inspiring content we produce, the welcoming culture we create, and the diverse community organizations we support.”
Since DeSantis became governor in 2019, however, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature has been moving steadily to the right by embracing divisive legislation that state GOP lawmakers in the past had largely shied away from.
Last week, the legislature gave final approval to a bill that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Later this week, the Florida Senate is expected to give final approval to a bill that would limit how teachers and employers discuss race and diversity.
During Tuesday’s Senate debate, Sen. Randolph Bracy (D) accused his Republican colleagues of engaging in a “culture war against the LGBTQ community” in hopes of furthering DeSantis’s political career. DeSantis has been widely mentioned as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 2024.
“I actually appreciate the discipline, and sometimes I wish our party would do the same thing,” Bracy said while looking at his GOP colleagues. “But in your effort to elect Ron DeSantis and send him to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I just ask you: Is it worth it? Is it worth it if one child is affected by this legislation? Is it worth a child being outed or bullied or potentially becoming suicidal?”
LGBTQ rights advocates rally at the Walt Disney Co. in Orlando on March 3, 2022. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation)
Democrats are also outraged over comments that DeSantis’s spokeswoman Christina Pushaw made on Twitter last week. Pushaw suggested that only “groomers” would oppose the legislation, an apparent reference to child predators.
“The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as Anti-Grooming Bill,” Pushaw wrote, adding, “If you’re against the anti-Grooming bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4- to 8-year-old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”
During Tuesday’s debate, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) and others lashed out at Pushaw, saying her comments were an insulting betrayal of the state’s LGBTQ residents.
“The governor’s communications director accused us of being pedophiles for being against this bill. Boy, oh boy, I got news for you: You can’t teach gay and you sure can’t pray away gay,” said Sen. Gary M. Farmer (D).
Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) countered that children have their entire lives to sort out their sexual orientation or gender identity, so there is no need to have “tough conversations” in elementary school. “This is not about targeting, this is about rerouting responsibility back to the parents and allowing children to be children,” she said.
But Democrats argue that the legislation will hurt gay Floridians and endanger the state’s reputation around the world.
“Who in the world have we become? Who in Florida have we become?” asked Sen. Janet Cruz (D), who noted that she has a daughter who is gay who was in the chamber to watch the floor debate. “I feel like I had a dream of a bad version of ‘Back to the Future.’ I mean, there is no time machine here. We can’t roll back 40 years; we are here.”
There are two videos on the post that I cannot copy over to here, so go to the link above to see them if you wish. There are a lot of good sections in the news story above, but I cannot highlight them because the bright white background is painful to look at for any length of time. On a side note, my vision is still blurry and light like the computer screen is still a big painful. I won’t be doing much with comments until I can see better. When I start answering the comments, I may have some drop off I am not aware of. If in the next few days you don’t get any response to a comment please send me a note or a comment so I can go look for it. Thanks.
Dennis Baxley last appeared on JMG in 2019 when he introduced an ultimately failed bill that would have allowed Florida teachers to instruct against “controversial” ideas like evolution and climate change. That bill was written by the anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Florida Citizens Alliance. But that wasn’t the first time an extremist group funneled a bill through Baxley. In 2005 he introduced the NRA-written “Stand Your Ground” bill that was successfully used in the murder of Trayvon Martin and just last month in the killing of a movie patron who threw popcorn at a retired cop.
Equality Florida Warns DeSantis Over “Don’t Say Gay”: We Will Sue If This Law Causes Harm To A Single Child
Via press release from Equality Florida:
The Don’t Say Gay bill has passed the FL legislature and now goes to the governor’s desk. Let us be clear: should its vague language be interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher, or family, we will lead legal action against the State of Florida to challenge this bigoted legislation.
We will not sit by and allow the governor’s office to call us pedophiles. We will not allow this bill to harm LGBTQ Floridians.
We will not permit any school to enforce this in a way that endangers the safety of children. We stand ready to fight for Floridians in court and hold lawmakers who supported this bill accountable at the ballot box.
Via press release from GLAAD:
This bill brands Florida land of the ‘less free’ by legalizing censorship and harming LGBTQ students and families. Banning discussion of LGBTQ people in school is an effort to silence and shame, to divide and disrespect, when all students should feel safe and learn about themselves and each other.
To every LGBTQ child and every LGBTQ parent in Florida, you do belong and we know that history is on our side. Governor DeSantis is playing political football with LGBTQ Floridians.
Other GOP leaders around the country who claim to be LGBTQ allies should be speaking against this ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, urging Gov. DeSantis to veto it, and fighting the tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country. Gov. DeSantis’ disdain and cruelty towards LGBTQ Floridians is noted and appalling.
Teacher: “O.K. kids, for the next hour I want you to draw for us what you did for vacation.”
Student 1: “I drew mommy and daddy and our dog at the beach.”
Student 2: “I drew daddy and his girlfriend and me on the park swings”
Student 3: hands in blank paper “I wish I could draw what we did, but we aren’t allowed to talk about my two moms.”
When activities alone, make children inferior, harm has already been caused.
GOP Florida Senator: “Gay Is Not A Permanent Thing”
Raw Story reports:
Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) expressed her support for a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Tuesday by arguing that “LGBT is not a permanent thing.”
During a 15-minute speech on the Senate floor, Garcia argued in favor of a bill that would prevent teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with younger students.
“Gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing,” Garcia began. “This isn’t about targeting. This is perhaps about rerouting the responsibilities back to the parents.”
Read the full article.
Garcia went on to spout fake statistics about LGBT suicide rates and told a story about a trans woman who prefers to date women. Which proves something, apparently.
Garcia is the founder of Latinas For Trump, for which Trump rewarded her with a Homeland Security post.
She was elected to the Florida Senate in November 2020 in the now-infamous “ghost candidate” scandal in which votes were siphoned away from the incumbent by a man with same last name. Garcia, allegedly, was not involved in the plot which has resulted so far in one arrest.
https://www.rawstory.com/ileana-garcia-dont-say-gay/
Florida GOP senator claims ‘LGBT is not a permanent thing’ during debate on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) expressed her support for a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Tuesday by arguing that “LGBT is not a permanent thing.”
During a 15-minute speech on the Senate floor, Garcia argued in favor of a bill that would prevent teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with younger students.
“Gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing,” Garcia began. “This isn’t about targeting. This is perhaps about rerouting the responsibilities back to the parents.”
The lawmaker insisted that her friends and family are “all LGBT but I don’t pander on that.”
Garcia then seemed shocked as she told the story of one transgender woman who prefers to date women.
“A friend of mine went through the whole transition as an older man, 58-years-old, became a woman and guess what?” she said. “He still likes women! He went through the whole process and we’d laugh together and I’d say, why do you want to deal with the hormones? Why do you want to worry about the extensions and the hair and boobs and the nails and he loved it.”
“So he had a sexual experience,” she added. “And he realized that he continued to like women.”
Garcia also shared false “statistics” about gender-affirming surgery, which has been shown to reduce suicidal ideation.
“You know, a lot of people don’t know that I think that the statistics are that 4 out of 7 people who do the full transition end up committing suicide because it’s tough,” she claimed.
Watch the video below.
Education Sec: “Don’t Say Gay” May Violate Title IX
From Education Secretary Miguel Cardona:
Parents across the country are looking to national, state, and district leaders to support our nation’s students, help them recover from the pandemic, and provide them the academic and mental health supports they need.
Instead, leaders in Florida are prioritizing hateful bills that hurt some of the students most in need.
The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law, including Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.
Grisham: My Gay Son Is Ashamed I Worked For Trump
“This one is personal to me. Because of my former boss. I have a 14-year-old son who is gay. Recently came out as gay. I have his permission to talk about this. He didn’t want to tell his friends where I worked.
“He was ashamed of where I worked, rightfully so, but also the fact that there’s this ‘don’t say gay’ – even slogan – out there, it’s making children feel different.
“It’s creating a problem where I don’t think there is one.” – Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, today on The View. Watch the clip.
Michigan GOP Leaders Condemn Their Own Nominee
The Detroit Free Press reports:
Michigan state and local Republican leaders are condemning comments made by a GOP state House candidate who recently suggested rape victims “lie back and enjoy it,” after he spent months parroting pandemic conspiracy theories and sharing anti-Semitic rhetoric.
However, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser and others affiliated with the party are not calling on Robert “RJ” Regan to withdraw from a special state House election, a race where he’s a heavy favorite.
“Having three daughters, and I tell my daughters, ‘well if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it so.’ That’s not how we roll, that’s not how I won this election. We go right at it,” Regan said, according to a video of the panel posted on Rumble.
Media Matters reports:
Regan, the GOP-backed nominee for a Michigan state House seat, used the right-wing video site Rumble to endorse the killings of President Joe Biden, Prime Ministers Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others.
Regan has also frequently shared right-wing media-fueled conspiracy theories on social media, including advising people to “study” and “apply” QAnon to their lives like they do with the Bible, and falsely claiming that Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman “staged” his famous face down with insurrectionists inside the Capitol.
Regan is a 2020 election conspiracy theorist and has claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “fake war just like the fake pandemic.”
Missouri lawmaker seeks to stop residents from obtaining abortions out of state
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/08/missouri-abortion-ban-texas-supreme-court/
Notie they not only want to block abortion in their own state, but want to prevent the people in their state from using a legal medical service in another state. Think of it. This is the party of Personal responsibility and small government. I guess they want to shrink government small enough to fit in your underwear.
The measure could signal a new strategy by the antiabortion movement to extend its influence beyond the GOP-led states poised to enact tighter restrictions if the Supreme Court weakens its landmark precedent upholding abortion rights.
An unusual new provision, introduced by state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy behind the restrictive law in Texas that since September has banned abortions in that state after six weeks of pregnancy.
Coleman has attached the measure as an amendment to several abortion-related bills that have made it through committee and are waiting to be heard on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Abortion rights advocates say the measure is unconstitutional because it would effectively allow states to enact laws beyond their jurisdictions, but the Republican-led Missouri legislature has been supportive of creative approaches to antiabortion legislation in the past. The measure could signal a new strategy by the antiabortion movement to extend its influence beyond the conservative states poised to tighten restrictions if the Supreme Court moves this summer to overturn its landmark precedent protecting abortion rights.
“If your neighboring state doesn’t have pro-life protections, it minimizes the ability to protect the unborn in your state,” said Coleman, who said she’s been trying to figure out how to crack down on out-of-state abortions since Planned Parenthood opened an abortion clinic on the Illinois-Missouri border in 2019.
A Supreme Court decision that undercuts Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion across the United States, probably would create a national landscape that encourages patients to cross state lines for abortions, with Democrat-led states moving to protect abortion rights as Republican-led states further limit them.
The trend has been apparent in Texas, where the majority of people seeking abortions since the state’s six-week abortion ban took effect in September have been able to obtain the procedure at clinics in neighboring states, or by ordering abortion pills in the mail, according to a report from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. Demand for abortions has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and other nearby states. Planned Parenthood clinics in states that border Texas reported that patient traffic increased by nearly 800 percent, and independent providers reported comparable increases.
Since Planned Parenthood opened its clinic on the Missouri-Illinois border in October 2019, 10,644 Missouri residents have received abortion care at the clinic, according to Planned Parenthood. By early 2021, the last remaining clinic in Missouri was typically providing between 10 and 20 abortions per month, according to preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Health.
Coleman said she hopes her amendment will thwart efforts by Missourians to cross state lines for abortions. The measure would target anyone even tangentially involved in an abortion performed on a Missouri resident, including the hotline staffers who make the appointments, the marketing representatives who advertise out-of-state clinics, and the Illinois and Kansas-based doctors who handle the procedure. Her amendment also would make it illegal to manufacture, transport, possess or distribute abortion pills in Missouri.
Olivia Cappello, the press officer for state media campaigns at Planned Parenthood, called the idea “wild” and “bonkers.” She called the proposal “the most extraordinary provision we have ever seen.”
If enacted, the measure almost certainly would face a swift legal challenge.
Elizabeth Myers, an attorney for Texas abortion rights groups in a court challenge to the six-week abortion ban, said states cannot regulate activities beyond their borders. She drew a parallel to marijuana laws, which also vary from state to state: While Texas lawmakers can outlaw marijuana, and punish anyone who uses the drug within Texas borders, she said, they have no jurisdiction over a Texas resident who uses marijuana in a state where its use is legal.
“A state’s power is over its own citizens and its own geographical boundaries,” Myers said. “These are limits imposed by the federal constitution and federal law.”
Coleman’s proposal still may succeed in deterring out-of-state abortions, said Myers. Like the Texas law, the proposal itself could have a chilling effect, where doctors in surrounding states stop performing abortions before courts have an opportunity to intervene, worried that they may face a flurry of lawsuits if they violate the law.
Coleman rejects arguments that her law is unconstitutional.
“That’s what they said about the Texas law, and every bill passed to protect the unborn for the last 49 years,” she said.
Coleman prayed outside the clinic on the Illinois-Missouri border on the day it opened, she said. Since then, she said, she’s been talking to “anyone who would listen” about legal strategies for decreasing the number of Missouri women who seek abortions in other states.
While Coleman says she has been happy to see the sharp decline in abortions in Missouri, she says she can’t fully celebrate the success when so many women are obtaining the same procedure a few miles away.
“It’s just tragic,” she said of the number of Missouri residents who get abortions in Illinois. “It feels very sad and heavy.”
Abortion clinics in states that support abortion rights are preparing for a surge of new patients if Roe is overturned. They are opening new locations and advocating for legislation that would allow them to accommodate more people. Lawmakers in several states have proposed bills this session that would allow nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to perform abortions, in addition to physicians, while others are planning to create statewide databases that will allow out-of-state patients to more easily plan their abortion care.
“We’ve got already half of states that have passed some kind of law to restrict or eliminate abortion access,” said California state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D), who has introduced legislation to help make California a “sanctuary state” for people seeking abortion access. “We definitely are and intend to be a national beacon for reproductive freedom and reproductive justice.”
Scottie's Playtime 