Abortion opponents use anti-trans messages

CHRISTINA FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Billboards read “STOP pediatric gender-gender surgery.” Brochures warning of dangers for minors. “DEFEND PARENTS’ RIGHTS” is printed on church bulletins.

How voters in nine states determine whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, opponents are using parental rights and anti-trans messaging to try undermine support on proposals for voting.

The measures do not mention gender-affirming surgeries, and legal experts say changing existing parental notification and consent laws on abortion and gender-affirming care for minors would require litigation. But anti-abortion groups hoping to end their electoral losing streak have turned to language type many Republican candidates across the country are using it in their campaigns in an effort to rally conservative Christian voters.

“It’s really preposterous to suggest that this amendment would address things like gender reassignment surgery for minors,” said Matt Harris, an assistant professor of political science at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, a state where abortion rights are on the ballot.

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down constitutional protections for abortion, voters in seven states, including conservative ones, Kentucky, Montana And Ohioeither protected abortion rights or stopped attempts to restrict them.

“If you can’t win by telling the truth, you need a stronger argument, even if it means capitalizing on the demonization of trans kids,” said Dr. Alex Dvorak, an Omaha family medicine physician. Nebraskawhere anti-abortion groups use this strategy.

Linking abortion rights ballot initiatives to parental rights and gender affirmation is a strategy borrowed from playbooks used in Michigan And Ohiowhere voters nevertheless enshrined the right to abortion into state constitutions.

Both states still require minors to obtain parental consent for abortions, and the new amendments have not yet impacted parental involvement or gender-affirming care laws in either state, said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University.

“It’s just recycling same strategies” said Cohen.

In addition to Missouri and Nebraska, states where voters are considering constitutional amendments this fall include Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Missouri Abortion Ballot Measure especially became a target. The amendment would prohibit the government from violating the “fundamental human right to reproductive freedom.”

Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, both Republicans, said the proposal would allow minors to have abortions and gender confirmation surgeries without parental involvement.

The amendment protects reproductive health services, “including but not limited to” prenatal care, childbirth, birth control and abortion. It doesn’t mention gender-affirming care, but Missouri Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican and lawyer for the conservative Thomas More Society, said it could possibly be considered reproductive health services.

Several legal experts told The Associated Press that would require a court ruling, which is unlikely.

“It would be a gross exaggeration for any court to say that anything related to gender-affirming care is considered reproductive health care,” said Saint Louis University law and gender studies professor Marcia McCormick. She noted that all of the examples listed as reproductive health care in the Missouri amendment directly relate to pregnancy.

Regarding parental consent for abortions of minors, she pointed to an existing state law that is written similarly to what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional even before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Most states have parental involvement laws that require parental consent or notification. Even many Democratic states with explicit protections for transgender rights require parental involvement before abortion or gender-affirming care for minors, says Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law.

The state’s high court would have to strike down such laws, which is highly unlikely for conservative majorities in many states where abortion is on the ballot, experts say.

In New York, a proposed amendment to the state constitution would expand anti-discrimination protections include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and “gender, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health and autonomy.” The Constitution already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed or religion.

The measure does not mention abortion. But since it is wider, it may be easier for opponents to attack it. But legal experts noted it also would not change existing state laws regarding parental involvement in abortions or gender-affirming care for minors.

The New York City Bar Association issued a fact sheet explaining that the measure would not affect parental rights, “which are governed by other mature areas of state and federal law.” However, the New York Child Welfare Coalition calls it the “Parent Substitution Law.”

Rick Weiland, co-founder of Dakotans for Health, the group behind South Dakota The proposed amendment says it takes the concept of Roe v. Wade “almost verbatim.”

“All you have to do is look back at what Roe allowed, and there have always been requirements for parental involvement,” Weiland said.

Caroline Woods, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Life Defense Fund, said the measure “means loving parents will be taken out of the equation entirely.” Weiland said the claims are part of a “constant stream of misinformation” from opponents.

If this campaign strategy fails in Michigan and OhioWhy are anti-abortion groups leaning on him in the November election?

Ziegler, the UC Davis law professor, said opponents of abortion rights know they can “play on more favorable ground” in more conservative states such as Missouri or in states like Florida which have higher thresholds for passing ballot measures.

“Anti-abortion groups are still looking for a recipe for victory,” Ziegler said.

Associated Press writer Jeff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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Originally published: October 31, 2024 1:40 PM CDT