Bills restricting abortion rights, trans rights are ‘inextricably linked,’ advocates say

Last week the Supreme Court enacted a controversial Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of gestation.

In the most recent legislative term, the Texas legislature tabled a series of laws restricting access to the bathroom of transgender people and prohibiting changes to birth certificates. Many of the bills target young transgender people’s access to health care and participation in high school sports. Similar bills have been introduced in at least 19 other states.

While it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with each other, some proponents of LGBTQ rights and proponents of abortion rights see parallels.

“The spate of political attacks on transgender youth springs from the same hateful, coercive ideology that fuels attacks on abortion and voting rights. These attacks on personal freedoms are not – and never have – been taking place in a vacuum, but rather all as part of a conservative control campaign, ”Ruth Dawson, executive director of the Guttmacher Institute, told NBC News in an email. “LGBTQ justice and sexual and reproductive health care are inextricably linked because they both incorporate the individual’s autonomy in their most intimate decisions.”

“A coordinated attack”

Abortion rights advocates and LGBTQ advocates pointed to similarities between recently tabled bills.

“The bills themselves share the same idea. They are truly restrictive violations of physical autonomy, individual rights, and the state playing an aggressive, moralizing police role, ”said Jules Gill-Peterson, history professor at Johns Hopkins University.

The bills misinterpret or misrepresent medical data, she added, “claiming to do things they don’t, such as protect women and children”.

For example, Arkansas passed law in March banning access to gender-based care for transgender minors, including reversible puberty blockers and hormones. However, puberty blockers have been used for a variety of medical purposes among cisgender youth for decades, said Kara Mailman, senior research analyst at the abortion rights group Reproaction.

Proponents of the law argued that transitional care for minors is “experimental” and that trans minors often change their minds about their gender and departure later in life. Medical experts say none of these claims are supported by scientific evidence.

Major medical organizations – including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and the American Psychological Association – support gender equitable care for trans minors and oppose efforts to restrict access. And research has found that access to gender-based care, such as puberty blockers, reduces the risk of suicide in trans teenagers.

“So much of what they consider dangerous is rigorously tested and extremely safe,” Mailman said.

The same groups pushing for abortion restrictions are also campaigning for new laws restricting transgender people’s access to health care, said Sasha Buchert, senior attorney for LGBTQ rights group Lambda Legal. “It’s a coordinated attack.”

Gill-Peterson agreed. “Anti-trans and anti-abortion laws are often very similar in terms of the literal bills that go into state legislative sessions. They are part of the same political strategy and are funded by the same groups and written by ghosts. ”

This year, the conservative organizations Heritage Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom and Family Policy Alliance have teamed up with the Promise to America’s Children initiative, which defies the Equality Act and offers legislators socially conservative model laws.

One example law listed on the site is California’s Protecting Children From Experimentation Act of 2021, a law that would criminalize providers of “medical underage sex reassignment interventions” with up to five years in prison.

The website invites visitors to sign a “pledge” that includes “protecting” the mind, body and relationships with parents of children: “We believe America’s children are the nation’s greatest resource. While a culture – and unfortunately a government – around us is trying to sexualize children for the sake of a political agenda, we try to protect children and nurture their minds, bodies and relationships, ”the website reads.

Republican MPs from over a dozen states have signed the pledge.

The Heritage Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom and Family Policy Alliance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Political Grammar”

Proponents of laws restricting abortion and transgender rights are similarly presenting them to the public, according to Gill-Peterson. She said anti-trans laws use the same “political grammar” that has been tried and tested in anti-abortion policy, which is the defense of an “imaginary child at risk”.

“Since the Reagan Revolution, we have seen,” she continued, “that the unborn child becomes a rally to restrict rights.”

For example, the new Texas law refers in its rationale to “protecting the health of women and the life of the unborn child.”

Gill-Peterson said the groups and politicians campaigning for the bills think it makes political sense. “Is that a good fundraising bill? Is It Good For The Base? Has the vote been canceled? Does it distract people from other issues? “

She described the manipulation of the child’s image in the anti-trans laws as “particularly cruel”.

“This child protection rhetoric is used to support policies that cause serious harm to children,” she said.

For example, a Texas law would classify all gender-affirming care as child abuse, and a Tennessee law would prohibit various types of gender-affirming care for minors, including simple talk therapy.

Nine states – eight this year – have banned transporters from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity.

The final version of Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June, waived the requirement for transgender athletes in high schools and colleges to be tested for testosterone or genetic testing and their genitals examined.

While such laws supposedly address child protection, Gill-Peterson said, those most affected by the law are the most marginalized, with already precarious access to resources.

“There’s no question that many of these clinics, especially Planned Parenthood, also offer gender-based care services,” said D. Ojeda, a political attorney at the National Center for Transgender Equality. “I think that’s why the opposition has targeted these two issues.”

Gill-Peterson also sees the spate of anti-trans laws as part of a more widespread political scapegoat by transgender people.

“Right now there is a lot more social stigma and violence against transsexuals,” she said.

“Anti-trans politics is an important element of ethno-national, authoritarian political movements around the world,” she said, citing examples from Brazil, Poland and Hungary.

In June, for example, the Hungarian parliament passed a law banning content in schools aimed at promoting homosexuality and transgender issues.

‘War of attrition’

Alex Petrovnia, director of the TransFormations Project, said his trans rights organization enforces at least 77 anti-trans laws, including over two dozen bills in Texas.

“We expect a lot more invoices to appear in 2022,” he said.

“You’re playing a war of attrition; they are relentless. The goal is to outlast people. If we don’t fight them further, the bills will slip and we won’t notice, ”Petrovnia said. “It’s not about a fight; this year it’s about 77. ”

In the face of an overwhelming number of bills, some advocates and progressive academics are calling for LGBTQ and abortion rights groups to work together.

“We cannot address these injustices in isolation; It is vitally important that we see and combat these attacks for what they are – as part of a broader pattern of an enforced, conservative ideology, ”said Dawson von Guttmacher.

One way to do this is to make sure that the language used to describe problems is as comprehensive as possible, according to Reproaction’s Mailman.

“We’ve been using women-centered language for so long,” Mailman said. “Trans people are also part of the abortion community. It has kept many trans people from feeling at home in these abortion rooms. “

Ojeda said passing the equality law would help both the trans-right and abortion rights movements.

The Equal Opportunities Act is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in a wide variety of areas, including employment, housing, education, public housing, credit and jury services.

Ojeda said it was “critical to fighting these horrific bills at the state level,” adding that the equality law would be “an ultimate line of defense”.

Indeed, on Wednesday a coalition of 47 women’s rights and abortion rights groups – including NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Women’s Law Center and Time’s Up Now – announced “clear support for the federal equality law” with a statement of solidarity. The groups also rejected “false claims that women’s rights groups are divided” about the legislation.

“As women and girls continue to face discrimination and harassment that affects their ability to lead safe and secure lives, and as states perpetrate unprecedented attacks on the rights of women and transgender students, federal legislation could help protect people of all genders not be more important. ”than it is now. That is why we, the undersigned, express our unreserved support for the Equal Opportunities Act, ”said a statement from the political groups.

Gill-Peterson said the upcoming Texas Abortion Act litigation is an opportunity to rethink strategy around abortion and transsexual rights, and to reflect more fully on how to ensure everyone has access to the health care they need needed.

“Even if we restore the previous norm of access to abortion, it will not solve the previous problems of income inequality and racial discrimination in health care,” which keep many people from accessing abortion services, said Gill-Peterson. “What would it look like if people who advocate abortion rights and trans rights combine their visions for reproductive freedom, health justice and racial justice?”

follow NBC output At Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/15/bills-restricting-abortion-rights-trans-rights-are-inextricably-linked-advocates-say/