Kentucky, Tennessee can ban sex-change surgeries, puberty blockers for minors: appeals court
Laws passed in Kentucky and Tennessee that ban cosmetic sex change surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs for minors with gender dysphoria have been upheld by a federal appeals court panel.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 last Thursday to uphold the two state laws that prohibit sex-change surgeries and hormonal interventions for minors who identify as the opposite sex.
Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, a George W. Bush appointee, authored the majority opinion and was joined by Judge Amul R. Thapar, who Donald Trump appointed.
Sutton wrote that "Kentucky and Tennessee share an interest in regulating the medical treatments offered to children suffering from gender dysphoria," adding that whenever "the Constitution is neutral about an issue, legislatures have considerable discretion to regulate the matter."
"As long as it acts reasonably, a state may ban even longstanding and nonexperimental treatments for children. It is difficult, at any rate, to maintain that these treatments have a meaningful pedigree," Sutton continued.
Sutton also wrote that a person "cannot define, or create, a protected class solely by the nature of a denied medical benefit," or else "every medical condition, procedure, and drug having any relation to biological sex could not be regulated without running the gauntlet of skeptical judicial review."
Senior Judge Helene N. White, another George W. Bush appointee, authored a dissenting opinion, arguing that the laws "discriminate based on sex and gender conformity and intrude on the well-established province of parents to make medical decisions for their minor children."
"First, the statutes trigger heightened scrutiny because they facially discriminate based on a minor's sex as assigned at birth and on a minor's failure to conform with societal expectations concerning that sex," wrote White.
"Second, Tennessee and Kentucky do not show an exceeding persuasive justification or close means-ends fit for their classifications."
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that filed an amicus brief in defense of the state laws, celebrated the ruling.
"Tennessee and Kentucky are right to protect minors from harmful, irreversible, and experimental medical procedures that can permanently alter children's bodies without any proven long-term benefit," stated ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch.
"The 6th Circuit rightly agreed that Tennessee and Kentucky are free to implement laws that protect vulnerable children and give them time to flourish."
Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, which helped to represent the plaintiffs, issued a joint statement denouncing the panel ruling.
"This is a devastating result for transgender youth and their families in Tennessee and across the region. The disastrous impact of Tennessee's law and all others like it has already been felt in thousands of homes and communities," the joint statement stated.
"Denying transgender youth equality before the law and needlessly withholding the necessary medical care their families and their doctors know is right for them has caused and will continue to cause serious harm."
The progressive groups are assessing their next steps and "will take further action in defense of our clients and the constitutional rights of transgender people in Tennessee and across the country."
In July, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit allowed Tennessee's law to take effect, reversing a lower court ruling that had placed an injunction on the measure.
Nearly two dozen states have recently passed laws or policies that prohibit sex-change surgeries and hormonal interventions for minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
Woman dies from septic abortion after getting DIY pills
from Planned Parenthood
By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter
The family of a Nevada woman who died after purchasing DIY abortion drugs from a Planned Parenthood facility that resulted in her having a septic abortion is suing a hospital where she was seen by a doctor prior to her death, arguing that she died due to negligence by the hospital, not the abortion clinic.
Alyona Dixon, 24, who was married and the mother of a now 1-year-old son, made an appointment at Planned Parenthood on Sept. 22, 2022, to obtain Mifepristone and Misoprostol, the two drugs used in the chemical abortion pill regimen. A few days later, the young woman died due to complications from a sepsis infection, which can be fatal.
Sepsis is responsible for 20% of all deaths in the world, and, as such, may be the leading cause of death in the world. I had sepsis in the spring of 2022 and was not in good shape for more than a month. In fact, I still have not fully recovered a year and a half later.
According to the Merck Manual, "Septic abortions usually result from use of nonsterile techniques for uterine evacuation after induced or spontaneous abortion. Septic abortions are much more common after induced abortion done by untrained practitioners (or the pregnant woman herself) and without adequate surgical equipment and sterile preparation."
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, Dixon’s family filed a complaint, alleging negligence on the part of Dignity Health’s St. Rose Dominican Blue Diamond and one of the doctors there.
According to the complaint, four days after Dixon obtained the abortion drugs, she started experiencing vaginal bleeding and a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Dr. Hayden Maag, according to the complaint, did not consult an OB-GYN before discharging Dixon, nor did he conduct a pelvic exam.
The next day, Dixon went to Desert View Regional Medical Center, where she reported suffering from abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Dixon died early the next morning before being transferred to Summerlin Hospital Medical Center.
"Providing safe, high-quality care to our communities is our highest priority, and we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the family of Ms. Dixon for their loss. Consistent with patient privacy laws and hospital policy, we do not comment on pending lawsuits," a Dignity Health spokesperson told The Christian Post.
Katie Daniel, state policy director for the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called for an investigation into the woman’s death.
“Not only Alyona Dixon’s family but the American people deserve answers. Any woman considering taking abortion pills must at least receive accurate medical information, not abortion lobby PR designed to maximize profits,” Daniel said in a statement to The Christian Post.
“Yet Nevada’s radical pro-abortion laws lack almost any protections for babies in the womb or their mothers,” she continued.
According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, Nevada’s laws as of June 2022 allow abortion up to 24 weeks and beyond that in some instances. In May, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo codified an existing executive order that prevents medical boards and commissions from disqualifying providers who perform abortions.
In addition, state agencies are barred from helping with out-of-state investigations that could result in women facing prosecution for traveling to Nevada for an abortion.
The pro-life state policy director also demanded that the Food and Drug Administration under President Joe Biden be held accountable for eliminating safety standards for abortion drugs and allowing women to obtain them without an in-person doctor visit.
“Abortion pills are dangerous and do not belong on the market,” Daniel added.
As CP previously reported, in August, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas federal court decision to restore the FDA's pre-2016 regulations for the abortion pill while leaving the FDA’s 2000 approval of the drug in place. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously allowed the abortion pill to remain on the market amid ongoing litigation.
“In loosening mifepristone’s safety restrictions, FDA failed to address several important concerns about whether the drug would be safe for the women who use it,” the court opinion, written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, states. “It failed to consider the cumulative effect of removing several important safeguards at the same time.”
Sue Liebel, director of state affairs and Midwest regional director at SBA Pro-Life America, warned CP earlier this year that an FDA regulatory change to allow retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pill prescriptions would threaten women’s health. The pro-life advocate cited a 2009 study that found chemical abortions have four times the complication rate of surgical abortions.
She also cited a 2021 peer-reviewed longitudinal study conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm for SBA Pro-Life America. In the study, researchers found the rate of emergency room visits after a chemical abortion increased by over 500% from 2002 through 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment