America First Legal has jumped into the fight to help parents push back against woke initiatives designed to strip away parental rights and responsibilities.
The latest target is Washington state leaders who recently pushed and signed into law Senate Bill 5599, a bill that allows minors to seek an abortion or gender transition medical procedures without parent notification.
Stephen Miller, leader of America First Legal (AFL), says the organization “is proud to defend parental rights and stand up against the insidious ‘gender-affirming care’ agenda, which promotes using experimental medical procedures and drugs on minor children – potentially altering their lives forever.”
Miller argues SB 5599 “creates a dangerous incentive for minors who disagree with their parents on ‘gender-affirming care’ to run away to a shelter or host home.”
AFL’s lawsuit challenges the legislation, which was recently signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee, who noted lawmakers advanced the bill to protect and empower at-risk trans-identifying youth attempting to seek the medical care they need.
The Daily Wire reported that Miller and many parents in the state disagree and assert the bill empowers the state, not at-risk trans-identifying youth. Parents have also noted that abortion services are covered in the bill, which is not a principal concern of the demographic the bill proposes to protect.
AFL’s CEO minced no words in calling out Washington state leaders for their overt attack on parental rights. Miller said:
“No state action more frighteningly illustrates the threat to our children than this law. This sick, authoritarian law essentially allows the state to kidnap children from their parents and hide their whereabouts to surgically and chemically mutilate them — and to formally deprive their parents of any legal ability to stop the medical disfigurement of their sons and daughters by gender extremists targeting their children.”
The new law allows shelters and “host homes,” to keep secret the location of children from their parents if the child claims to be fleeing guardians who do not approve of a sex-change procedure or an abortion.
Rather than notifying parents of a child’s location or their attempt to seek an abortion or gender transition procedure, the shelter or host home is now required to notify the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, who will assist youth with their desired treatments.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Marko Liias (D), was approved by the House 57-39 and in the Senate 29-20. Liias also serves as co-chair of the LGBTQ caucus.
Celebrating the passage of the bill, Liias said in a press release: “Every child – including our trans youth – deserves to be safe at home. In a perfect world, that is the case, but unfortunately, that is not the reality.”
Liias added: “This legislation affirms our commitment to ensuring children have a safe and stable place to go when they are not welcome at home.”
The AFL suit targets Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Washington Attorney General Robert Ferguson and the secretary of the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Ross Hunter.
Speaking for parents, the suit argues the new statute “deprives certain parents of their fundamental rights under the United States Constitution to direct the care and upbringing of their children.”
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