Seventeen Republican attorneys general slammed a proposed Biden administration rule that they say would force foster care providers to push “transgenderism” and so-called “gender-affirming care” on children.
The Daily Wire reported that “the rule, proposed in September, would dictate that minors who identify as LGBT are placed with providers who agree to affirm a child’s gender identity, pronouns, and provide them with ‘services that are necessary to support their health and well-being.’”
“Federal funding would also be contingent on following the proposed rule, which the Republican officials said goes beyond the scope of federal authority,” The Daily Wire added.
In a Monday letter to Biden administration official Kathleen McHugh, the attorneys general wrote:
The apparent requirement that foster parents facilitate risky medical treatments for youth is a particularly problematic case in point. After careful consideration, Tennessee prohibited gender transition hormone and surgical treatments for minors because the State determined that those treatments are unproven and unsafe
McHugh is the director of the Policy Division of the Children’s Bureau in the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The coalition of Republican attorneys general was led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
“The Placement Rule nonetheless appears to condition Tennessee’s continued funding on foster parents’ providing certain gender-affirming treatments that it and other States have permissibly banned,” the letter went on:
Or perhaps HHS would require foster parents to take children on costly out-of-state trips for medical visits and surgeries to avoid designation as “unsafe” foster providers. Either way, HHS’s conception of its statutory authority veers far outside any reasonable reading of the delegation effectuated by Congress.
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The letter also argued that the rule “is contrary to the Constitution’s protection for the separation-of-powers and individual rights of free exercise and free speech.”
“The proposed rule exceeds the agency’s authority and raises serious constitutional concerns,” said Skrmetti in a statement. “It also hampers the ability of the states to protect kids by forcing children’s services agencies to police pronoun usage with the same urgency they address physical abuse.”
“It’s illegal,” the Tennessee attorney general added while speaking with The Daily Wire. “This is another example of a federal agency overreaching beyond the scope of its authority and intruding on the state’s responsibilities.”
In addition to Skrmetti, attorneys general who signed the letter included Steve Marshall, R-AL, Treg Taylor, R-AK, Tim Griffin, R-AR, Chris Carr, R-GA, Raul Labrador, R-ID, Todd Rokita, R-IN, Daniel Cameron, R-KY, Jeff Landry, R-LA, Lynn Fitch, R-MS, Andrew Bailey, R-MO, Austin Knudsen, R-MT, Michael Hilgers, R-NE, Alan Wilson, R-SC, Ken Paxton, R-TX, Jason Miyares, R-VA, and Patrick Morrisey, R-WV.
Notable among the signatories is Landry, the incoming governor-elect of Louisiana.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
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