ACLU of Maine Statement on Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

WASHINGTON–Today, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the Trump administration’s latest proposals to implement two nationwide rules that would significantly shut down access in hospitals to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. The proposed measures follow the recent House passage of legislation aimed at criminalizing such care and represent an unprecedented federal intrusion into the private medical decisions of families and their doctors. The administration’s proposal seeks to block the provision of evidence-based, medically necessary care for transgender people under 18—care that is supported by every major medical association in the United States, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. “These gratuitous proposals are cruel and unconstitutional attacks on the rights of transgender youth and their families,” said Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “By attempting to strip away essential healthcare, the administration is not 'protecting' anyone; it is weaponizing the federal government to target a vulnerable population for political gain. Healthcare decisions belong to families and their doctors, not politicians. The latest proposals from the administration would force doctors to choose between their ethical obligations to their patients and the threat of losing federal funding. It would uproot families who have already fled state-level bans, leaving them with nowhere to turn for the care they need to survive and thrive. “We have seen the devastating consequences of similar policies at the state level, and we have fought them every step of the way. Let us be clear: If this administration moves forward with this attempt to enact a national ban on our medical care through coercion, the ACLU will see them in court. We will not rest until the rights of transgender youth to live authentically and access the care they need are fully protected.”

WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives voted 216-211 to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would criminalize the provision of gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18 and subject providers to hefty fines and up to 10 years in federal prison. If ultimately enacted, the bill would have immediate and devastating effects on the lives of transgender youth and their families across the country. These medical and mental health treatments, commonly referred to as gender-affirming medical care, are supported by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. At the same time that the legislation criminalizes care for transgender youth, it explicitly endorses non-consensual surgical procedures on intersex youth and infants. “Politicians should never prohibit parents from doing what is best for their transgender children,” said Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the ACLU. “These families often spend years considering how best to support their children, only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive. But this bill also creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors. We strongly condemn the passage of this measure and urge members of the Senate to do everything in their power to prevent it from ever becoming law.” On Thursday, the House will also vote on a measure led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw that would prohibit Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming medical care for those under the age of 18. At the same time that this medically necessary health care would be prohibited for transgender youth, it explicitly endorses and allows coverage for surgical procedures on intersex youth and infants, which are frequently performed without the individual’s own consent.

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union is urging members of the House of Representatives to vote “NO’ on a bill sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would criminalize the provision of gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18 and subject providers to up to 10 years in federal prison. This would be the most extreme anti-trans legislation ever considered by Congress.. These treatments, commonly referred to as gender-affirming medical care, are supported by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. At the same time that the legislation criminalizes care for transgender youth, it explicitly endorses non-consensual surgical procedures on intersex youth and infants. Greene announced on social media that she has received a commitment from House leadership to bring the bill to the floor for a vote on December 17. “This extreme bill puts the threat of prosecution between hundreds of thousands of families and their doctors and would put doctors behind bars for exercising their best medical judgment,” said Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the ACLU. “Passing this bill would be a grave escalation of an already severe effort to not only push transgender people out of public life but also allow the state to control our bodies and our lives further. Families with transgender youth across the country have already taken the dire step of leaving the United States for fear of exactly this kind of proposal becoming the law of the land. Abortion bans have already shown us the deadly consequences of putting baseless politics into our doctors’ offices. Every member of Congress who believes that health care decisions should stay between families and their doctors should vote no and vigorously oppose this bill’s passage. The fundamental equality of transgender people and our families is at stake now, but the implications of criminalizing health care could be far-reaching for everyone.”