Late last year, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom reportedly said that he was working to boost the state's "abortion infrastructure" to accommodate more out-of-state patients as states pass pro-life laws limiting abortion at six weeks or 15 weeks gestation. Idaho is the latest state to propose such a measure. According to the report by the Los Angeles Times, Newsom was working with state legislators and a coalition of pro-abortion health experts to accommodate this "surge in demand" for out-of-state abortion.
Now, reports have surfaced that the Golden State will become a "safe haven" for another group targeted by new pieces of legislation.
California could become a "legal refuge" for transgender minors and their families, The Hill reported Friday. A bill introduced by Democratic State Sen. Scott Wiener would legally protect parents and their transgender children by "blocking out-of-state court judgments removing the children from their parents' custody."
This move comes after investigations were launched in Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, into the parents of transgender minors for possible child abuse, as Townhall covered. Reportedly, one of the first families investigated was an employee of the state with a teenage transgender child. Last week, as Townhall also covered, a Texas judge temporarily halted the investigations.
Last week, I covered how lawmakers in Idaho are pushing legislation that would outlaw gender-affirming surgical procedures and treatment for transgender minors. Anyone caught prescribing hormone or puberty blockers or performing such a surgery on a minor could face life in prison.
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"We know other red states will, no doubt, be considering these bills as well," Wiener reportedly said of Texas and Idaho's policies. "They all copy each other and it spreads like wildfire around the country."
Under Wiener's proposed legislation, courts would not be able to subpoena information about individuals who traveled to California to undergo gender-affirming care. The bill would flag warrants related to someone from out-of-state receiving this treatment as a "low priority" for law enforcement. Reportedly, Wiener previously drafted a law requiring transgender individuals in prison to be held in facilities "in accordance to their gender identity."
In an interview with Townhall this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that sex-change procedures on children, as well as hormone therapy treatments, are child abuse under section 261.001 of the Texas Family Code.
"The answer is clear regarding so-called sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and hormone therapies. When performed on children, these procedures are 'abuse' under Texas law," Paxton stated in the interview. "They're illegal. And family courts, family-law government agencies, and the like must do their part to stop it."
