(NewsReady.com) – Two of the biggest hot-button issues in the country are abortions and medical care for kids with gender dysphoria. A Republican lawmaker is now issuing a warning about a bill in Maine that addresses both issues.
In late March, Maine’s Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services Committee voted 8-4 to advance LD 227. The proposed bill is a “shield law” that would protect healthcare providers from other states’ bans on abortion and gender-affirming healthcare. The northeastern state would join others in striving to protect doctors and other healthcare professionals from the repercussions of laws in other states as conservatives across the country move to restrict gender-affirming care and abortion. Currently, some doctors in Maine can perform sex-change surgery on teens as young as 15, if certain criteria are met.
Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R) spoke to Fox News and sounded the alarm about the legislation moving through the statehouse. He warned the legislation would “completely usurp parental rights” for people in other states and turn Maine into a “sanctuary state” for abortion and gender-affirming care.
The senator explained that all it would take is a non-custodial parent to take the child to Maine to get “an abortion or sex-change surgery,” and law enforcement wouldn’t be able to stop them. He called it a “completely radical and crazy idea.”
Other Republican opponents of the legislation believe it could result in one parent “kidnapping” their child from a state that has restrictive transgender care or abortions and taking them to Maine. The law could also potentially conceal medical records from people who want to take action against a specific provider.
Traditionally, one state does not have to follow the laws of another. The issue, Stewart says, is that adults could circumvent the beliefs and opinions of the other parent and unilaterally make a decision for their minor child.
The full legislature will still have to vote on the bill before it goes to the governor’s desk. It’s not clear when or if that vote will take place.
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