Seattle, EU.- The Governors of Washington and Minnesota today enacted legal protections for people who travel to those entities seeking reproductive procedures and physical gender reassignment interventions.
They are the latest states to enact safeguards against bans or limits on trans health care and abortion procedures that have been implemented in Republican-ruled states.
In Seattle, Democratic Governor Jay Inslee wore a pink tie at the event to sign into law the bill that prohibits other states from using state courts or Washington legal processes to enforce their abortion and affirmation health care bans. gender. The law blocks warrants, subpoenas and extradition requests from other states.
“Freedom of choice is a health issue. We are protecting access to health care,” Inslee said.
On the other side of the country, Gov. Tim Walz, also a Democrat, has made Minnesota a haven for out-of-state youth seeking physical gender reassignment procedures. The Governor also signed legislation Thursday making Minnesota a sanctuary for abortion patients and banning so-called conversion therapies for LGBTQA+ youth.
Washington’s law responds to states like neighboring Idaho, which have banned abortions and made it illegal for an adult to help a minor terminate a pregnancy without the consent of a parent or guardian.
Starting next year, anyone in Idaho who provides gender-affirming medical care to trans minors could be convicted of a felony, after the state’s Republican Governor signed into law a law banning the treatment earlier this month .
Similarly, Minnesota’s new law targets abortion-seeking patients who come not only from neighboring states, but from as far away as Texas.
