Friends and family are mourning Ashley Burton, a Black trans hairstylist who was murdered earlier this month.
Atlanta police reportedly found the 37-year-old’s body shortly after 4:30am on April 11 in the breezeway of her apartment complex. Investigators say she was shot inside her home before fleeing outside, where she collapsed. So far a suspect has not been named, but according to 11 Alive, police believe this was a domestic-related shooting.
One activist said she is even considering detransitioning for her own safety.
A friend told Fox 5that Burton, a South Carolina native who moved to Atlanta to pursue a career as a makeup artist and hairstylist, “was a very sweet young lady. She was very full of life really. It was always smiles and laughs with us whenever we work together.”
Burton’s mother and brother said they were unaware of any enemies she may have had and that they do not believe her gender identity had anything to do with her murder.
“Ashley was very loved all the way across the board, like from South Carolina to Atlanta,” Burton’s brother Patrick said. “The way my sibling moved in life, it was…take it or leave it. ‘This is how I am.’ You can respect it or neglect it, but Ashley put it out there and let that person know. It’s not going to be a secret.”
“I just want justice for my cousin,” she said. “I’m tired of all these incidents with transgender women just being pushed up under the rug. We are human beings.”
Burton is at least the ninth trans or nonbinary person to die by violence in the U.S. this year, according to Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. The blog also notes that Burton was initially deadnamed and misgendered by both law enforcement and media following her death.
“I agree with Ashley’s cousin,” York said, “we are tired of the murders of trans women being pushed under the rug. They deserve justice, and their family, friends, and loved ones deserve closure. Local law enforcement must make solving the murders of trans people and protecting the community a priority. Our trans brothers and sisters deserve to live their lives without fear.”
Atlanta police are requesting that anyone with information about Burton’s murder call 404-577-8477.
North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.
Gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations, but it has increasingly come under attack in many conservative legislatures, including North Dakota’s, where lawmakers have passed at least three bills targeting trans people this year.
The measure that Burgum signed Wednesday received veto-proof support from GOP lawmakers — though some Republicans did vote against it, alongside all Democrats.
In a statement released Thursday morning, Burgum said the law is “aimed at protecting children from the life-altering ramifications of gender reassignment surgeries” but he added that medical professionals have testified these surgeries have not been and are not being performed on minors in North Dakota.
He said the law still allows medication treatment for early onset puberty and other rare circumstances with parental consent, and minors currently receiving gender-affirming care will still be able to receive treatment.
“Going forward, thoughtful debate around these complex medical policies should demonstrate compassion and understanding for all North Dakota youth and their families,” he said.
The new law takes immediate effect and allows prosecutors to charge a health care provider with a felony — up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines — for performing sex reassignment surgery on a minor.
It also enables prosecutors to charge a provider with a misdemeanor — up to 360 days in prison and $3,000 in fines — for giving gender-affirming medication, like puberty blockers or hormone therapy, to a trans child.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota denounced the new law as “a vast government overreach that undermines the fundamental rights of parents” and that violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process by singling out gender-affirming care for prohibition.
“By signing this bill into law, Gov. Burgum has put the government in charge of making vital decisions traditionally reserved for parents in North Dakota,” Cody Schuler, the group’s advocacy manager, said in a statement. “This ban won’t stop North Dakotans from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults.”
Earlier this month, Burgum also signed a transgender athlete ban into law after it similarly passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill that would have imposed a transgender athlete ban at that time, but House and Senate lawmakers did not have enough votes back then to override his veto.
North Dakota joins at least 13 other states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Republican lawmakers across the country have advanced hundreds of measures aimed at nearly every facet of trans existence this year.
That includes bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors, restrictions on the types of restrooms transgender people can use, measures restricting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and bills that would out transgender students who want teachers to address them by the pronouns they use.
The Food and Drug Administration approved puberty blockers 30 years ago to treat children with precocious puberty — a condition that causes sexual development to begin much earlier than usual. Sex hormones — synthetic forms of estrogen and testosterone — were approved decades ago to treat hormone disorders or as birth control pills.
The FDA has not approved the medications specifically to treat gender-questioning youth, but they have been used for many years for that purpose “off label,” a common and accepted practice for many medical conditions. Doctors who treat transgender patients say those decades of use are proof the treatments are not experimental.
Research has shown that transgender youths and adults can be prone to suicidal behavior when forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth. And critics of legislation to restrict gender-affirming care for children say it’s an attempt by conservatives to motivate their voting base.
Proponents of the measure have raised concerns about children changing their minds. Yet the evidence suggests detransitioning is not as common as opponents of transgender medical treatment for youth contend, though few studies exist and they have their weaknesses.
In a turnaround that has stunned and pleasantly surprised HIV advocates, Tennessee has gone from blocking $8.3 million in annual federal funds for HIV prevention, surveillance and treatment to including a new allotment of $9 million in the state budget approved Thursday to combat the virus.
This development came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Monday that it will circumvent the state government and continue providing about $4 million in HIV-prevention funds to Tennessee nonprofit groups, despite Gov. Bill Lee’s objections. The state has one of the nation’s most poorly controlled HIV epidemics.
Lee previously singled out the Tennessee Transgender Task Force and Planned Parenthood to be defunded from the CDC’s HIV-prevention grant to the state. The president of the task force, Ray Holloman, expressed hope that a cumulative $13 million budget will be “used to benefit the most vulnerable and at-risk populations.” But he shared HIV experts’ concerns that the new state funds, which will support county health departments and nonprofit groups, might not be spent wisely.
Jade Byers, a Lee spokesperson, said the $9 million in new state funding to combat HIV would recur and allow Tennessee to “provide better services and reach even more at-risk populations in the state, such as victims of human trafficking, mothers and children, and first responders.”
Toni Newman, a director of the HIV advocacy nonprofit organization NMAC, called the new state funds “a step forward.”
Toni Newman, a director at the HIV advocacy nonprofit NMAC.Courtesy of NMAC
“But the real impact of this move will be determined by how the money is distributed,” Newman said. “Without a clear understanding of where the money is going and who it will benefit, we risk worsening the HIV epidemic in our state.”
In recent years, the CDC has granted Tennessee $6.2 million annually for HIV prevention and surveillance, delivering the money to the state Health Department. The state has then sent about $4 million of those funds to the United Way of Greater Nashville, which has in turn distributed the cash to various community-based organizations fighting HIV throughout the state.
The remaining $2 million or so of the CDC grant has supported surveillance of HIV in Tennessee.
In January, the Lee administration announced that beginning in the new fiscal year, which starts June 1, it would block all $6.2 million of the CDC HIV funding, plus a separate $2.1 million annual federal grant for HIV prevention and treatment in Shelby County, home to Memphis.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, shown at his State of the State address in Nashville on Feb. 6, previously rejected CDC funds for HIV initiatives. Mark Zaleski / AP
Outraged HIV advocates and experts said Lee’s move would spawn a public health crisis.
The CDC estimates that new HIV cases declined nationally by 8% from 2015 to 2019, a statistic that masks heady progress in some states and either stagnancy or increases in most of the South, where the bulk of transmissions occur. Even as liberal states such as New York and California have invested heavily in fighting the virus and seen substantial declines, the CDC estimates that Tennessee’s transmissions increased somewhat from 2017 to 2019.
A February NBC News investigation into the governor’s motivation for blocking the funds traced its origins, at least in part, to attacks on Vanderbilt University’s care for transgender children by far-right media stars, including the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. These attacks triggered a chain reaction that, fueled by Republican animus toward Planned Parenthood, gathered steam and ultimately politicized the Tennessee Health Department’s HIV prevention efforts.
Walsh and the Daily Wire did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Planned Parenthood declined to comment.
Along with a cadre of national and state HIV organizations, NMAC has spent the past three months lobbying the CDC to ensure funding continuity.
On Monday, the CDC announced plans for an end run around the Tennessee Health Department, pledging to deliver $4 million in HIV grant funds directly to the United Way during the next fiscal year.
In January, Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing Memphis,sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra asking the agency to circumvent the Tennessee Health Department and provide the $2.1 million federal grant directly to Shelby County.
The Memphis area has the nation’s third-highest HIV diagnosis rate, the CDC reports.
HIV testing at OUTMemphis, a center in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 25. The Washington Post via Getty Images
Representatives for Becerra and Cohen did not respond to inquiries about that grant’s status.
Earlier in the year, the Lee administration pledged to replace the blocked $8.3 million in federal funding with state money — a promise kept by the $56 billion state budget approved by the Legislature in Nashville on Thursday.
“Tennessee is pursuing a stronger HIV prevention and awareness program at the state level that will allow community partners to access more funding,” Byers said. In January, she said that spending state instead of federal dollars to fight HIV would permit Tennessee more “independence” in its use of funds.
Sarah Bishop, a United Way of Greater Nashville spokesperson, said the organization would continue funding all the current CDC grantees come June.
Dr. Richard Briggs, a surgeon and a Republican state senator representing Knoxville, celebrated Tennessee’s comparatively fulsome new HIV budget. Yet he still criticized Lee, also a Republican, for blocking the federal money.
“We should accept all the federal funds,” Briggs said.
Following Lee’s announcement in January, Friends for Life, an $8.5 million Memphis nonprofit that provides HIV prevention and treatment services, faced losing nearly $500,000 in CDC grant funding, according to Mia Cotton, its chief programs officer. Without a federal contract, the organization also would have become ineligible for $1.2 million in annual pharmaceutical rebates.
Now the nonprofit will receive a windfall of $891,000 from the state, plus continued CDC funding, which will maintain its rebate eligibility.
Cotton expressed relief and gratitude over this reversal of fortune.
“It is important to note, however, that unless we all work together,” Cotton said, alluding to the governor’s determination to detach the state’s spending from the CDC, “new transmissions of HIV will not be contained.”
An enraged conservative threw a bigoted temper tantrum after he saw some LEGO store staff wearing rainbow pins, and now he’s getting roasted online.
The tirade began when John K Amanchukwu Sr, who describes himself as a contributor to far-right organisation Turning Point USA, went into a LEGO store and saw employees wearing kaleidoscopic Pride pins on their uniforms.
He then pulled out his camera, started arguing with them and posted the result on his social media channels.
Amanchukwu asked one worker if the “LEGO group supports” LGBTQ+ people, to which the employee called over another worker before replying, “Yes.”
“But the question is, why are you all in here with those pins on?” Amanchukwu asked. “Do you think children care about what man sucks d**k at home? What girl eats vaginas at home?”
The employees then asked Amanchukwu to leave, but he doubled down and insisted he wanted a response.
“I don’t think they think about that, personally,” the employee responded.
“Right, they think about it when they see your pin,” Amanchukwu said.
The employee insisted kids don’t think about that before telling Amanchukwu to leave again, and Amanchukwu weakly threatened to tell security that the workers were “in here wearing Pride flags”.
Security soon arrived, but Amanchukwu continued to rant about “grooming” before equating wearing LGBTQ+ Pride pins to “borderline pedophilia” and “child abuse”.
The security guard told Amanchukwu to leave the store, and he vowed not to spend any more money on LEGO – truly a terrifying threat to a billion-dollar company that has thrown its support behind the LGBTQ+ community before.
The clip has been widely viewed – and lambasted – on Twitter after it was shared by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Kirk has promoted numerous conspiracy theories and “demonised the transgender community”, as noted by the Anti-Defamation League.
Amanchukwu didn’t win any sympathy points online, and people on Twitter came out in force to slam his video.
Social media users pointed out that the LEGO staffers were literally just doing their job while Amanchukwu – who was ranting about sexual acts and “grooming” – was the one actually being inappropriate in a toy store surrounded by children.
Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups.
Twitter enacted the policy against deadnaming, or using a transgender person’s name before they transitioned, as well as purposefully using the wrong gender for someone as a form of harassment, in 2018.
On Monday, Twitter also said it will only put warning labels on some tweets that are “potentially” in violation of its rules against hateful conduct. Previously, the tweets were removed.
It was in this policy update that Twitter appears to have deleted the line against deadnaming from its rules.
“Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the advocacy group GLAAD. “This decision to roll back LGBTQ safety pulls Twitter even more out of step with TikTok, Pinterest, and Meta, which all maintain similar policies to protect their transgender users at a time when anti-transgender rhetoric online is leading to real world discrimination and violence.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment Tuesday.
Ugandan lawmakers have passed extreme legislation, that includes the death penalty for repeat offenders, requires people to report anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian to the authorities, and could send activists to jail for 20 years. President Yoweri Museveni has 30 days to sign the bill for it to become law.
This is an apt moment to recall Pope Francis’s recent statements that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust,” and that the Catholic Church can and should oppose them. Recognizing that certain Catholic bishops support such laws, the Pope remarked on the need for change within the Church and emphasized the importance of recognizing the dignity of all human beings. Anglican and Presbyterian church leaders joined the Pope in condemning criminal penalties for same-sex conduct.
Yet, religious leaders in Uganda, including the Anglican Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba, had been urging the passage of this insidious bill. The Ugandan bill expands the existing criminalization of same-sex conduct to create a legal framework for systematic persecution and social exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Ugandan Catholic clergy used the occasion of Ash Wednesday, a Christian ritual of repentance, to condemn homosexuality in the strongest terms, adding to a chorus of denunciation by public figures that has stoked a moral panic in Uganda.
Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok, depicted homosexuality as “not human” and akin to “death”, while Fr. Agabito Arinaitwe, a curate in the important parish of the Uganda Martyrs Catholic Shrine, which commemorates the execution of early Catholic converts who refused the sexual advances of Mwanga II, the 19th century Buganda king, said, with reference to homosexuality: “It’s time we turn away from our evil deeds and turn back to the Lord.”
Since the passage of the bill, Catholic leaders have undertaken to discuss the content of the bill and announce ‘the position of the Catholic Church in Uganda.
“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Pope Francis said. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity.” He subsequently added that “Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.” And that “Criminalization is a serious problem.” These are welcome statements from Pope Francis, renewing emphasis on existing Catholic Church doctrine that condemns violence, criminal penalties, and unjust discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Similarly, 10 years ago, South African Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba called on everyone to “Respect the gift of difference,” adding, “I cannot allow people to be discriminated, and I cannot allow people to meet violence, just on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
For nearly a decade, Human Rights Watch has called on the Vatican to condemn government practices that condone violence and unjust discrimination, including the criminalization of same-sex conduct.
As we wrote to the Pope in 2014, while human rights principles and Church teaching are not always aligned when it comes to issues of gender and sexuality, we can agree that “respect for human dignity requires concrete actions to create an environment in which people in sexual and gender minorities can live peacefully as full members of society.”
As we have repeatedly documented, laws criminalizing homosexuality are not only unjust, they foment violence and abuse against LGBT people, as examples in Jamaica, Cameroon, Uganda, and Uzbekistan vividly testify.
Sadly, as the Pope acknowledges, Catholic leaders have often failed to condemn anti-LGBT laws, at times explicitly or implicitly endorsing them. In Zambia, for example, Catholic bishops recently reiterated that “[p]racticing homosexuality constitutes a criminal offence . . . and the law has to be respected.” Singapore’s archbishop initially opposed the recent repeal of a colonial-era anti-sodomy law, and only after the law was repealed stated the local church did not “seek to criminalise the LGBT [but to prevent so-called] reverse discrimination [against Catholics].” Some 67 countries still criminalize same-sex sexual activity, and a number of them can or do impose the death penalty.
Yet despite the reticence of local leaders, there is an opportunity for change. In October of this year, Catholic leaders will converge in the Vatican for a meeting of the Synod of Bishops. This meeting marks the culmination of a two-year consultation process with Catholic clergy and laity from around the world. Encouragingly, the Vatican’s working document for the Synod acknowledges the need for “a more meaningful dialogue and a more welcoming space” for those marginalized by the Church, including LGBT people.
Religious leaders should speak out unequivocally against a bill that metes out lengthy jail terms, or even death, for consensual same-sex relations, curtails any advocacy on the rights of LGBT people, and requires people to report anyone thought to be gay or lesbian to the police. Pope Francis himself could fall foul of this odious law.
A 10-year study has found that Australia could become one of the first countries to “virtually eliminate” HIV transmissions, with new infections decreasing dramatically.
The findings, published inLancet HIV, showed that HIV infections decreased by 66 per cent between 2010 and 2019 in New South Wales and Victoria, while there was a 27 per cent rise in people accessing effective HIV treatment.
Increased access to HIV treatment and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) – the medication that prevents a person from contracting HIV – was cited as a key reason for decreased transmissions.
The journal also endorsed the public health strategy “treatment as prevention” or TasP, explaining that HIV treatment “results in virally suppressing the HIV virus”, which reduces a person’s risk of transmitting HIV to another person to zero.
“We examined 10 years of clinical data from over 100,000 gay and bisexual men in New South Wales and Victoria,” Dr Denton Callander, who led the research at UNSW’s Kirby Institute, told the University of New South Wales.
“We found that over time, as viral suppression increased, HIV incidence decreased. Indeed, every percentage point increase in successfully treated HIV saw a fivefold decrease in new infections, thus establishing treatment as prevention as a powerful public health strategy.”
Dr Callander also underlined the importance of access to HIV testing, as well as the “widespread availability” of PrEP.
Professor Mark Stoové from the Burnet Institute, co-senior author on the paper, added that the success of Australian measures such as education on HIV and reduced patient treatment costs could see the country “virtually eliminate” new HIV transmissions.
“Australia is on track to become one of the first countries globally to virtually eliminate the transmission of HIV,” Professor Stoové said.
“The results of this research show that further investment in HIV treatment – especially alongside PrEP – is a crucial component of HIV elimination.”
HIV experts have explained how medical breakthroughs have transformed the treatment and prevention of the virus.
In fact, U=U means that if a HIV-positive person has been taking effective HIV treatment, and their viral load has been undetectable for six months or more, they cannot pass the virus on through sex.
In the UK, former health secretary Matt Hancock committed to ending new HIV transmissions by 2030, however, charities and activists have expressed doubt that the country will be able to meet its target.
Richard Angell, campaigns director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, told PinkNews that it’s now “possible but not probable” that the UK will reach the 2030 goal.
Some “huge successes” were praised in terms of UK HIV prevention, but experts explained that inequality and stigma, as well as a lack of resources, were still hurdles to overcome in order to meet Hancock’s aim.
Missouri’s attorney general announced new restrictions Thursday on gender-affirming care for adults in addition to minors in a move that is believed to be a first nationally and has advocacy groups threatening to sue.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced plans to restrict health care for transgender people weeks ago, when protesters rallied at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass a law banning puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for children. But the discussion was focused on minors, not adults.
Missouri Attorney General spokeswoman Madeline Sieren clarified in a statement later in the day that adults also would be covered.
“We have serious concerns about how children are being treated throughout the state, but we believe everyone is entitled to evidence-based medicine and adequate mental health care,” Sieren said.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks outside the Supreme Court on Feb. 28.Patrick Semansky / AP
The rule, which incudes a required 18 months of therapy before receiving gender-affirming health care, is set to take effect April 27 and expire next February.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal said in a joint statement that they would “take any necessary legal action” and urged those affected to call.
“The Attorney General’s so-called emergency rule is based on distorted, misleading, and debunked claims and ignores the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care,” the statement said.
Robert Fischer, the spokesman for the LGBTQ rights groups PROMO, said he was not aware of similar restrictions elsewhere.
“He’s essentially attacking the entire trans community at this point,” Fischer said of Bailey. “It’s no longer just about children.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality called the order “deeply wrong” in a tweet, adding that “trans people of all ages across the state of Missouri deserve access to health care.”
The restrictions are in response to a former employee’s allegations of mistreatment at a transgender youth clinic in St. Louis run by Washington University. Bailey is investigating the center.
“My office is stepping up to protect children throughout the state while we investigate the allegations and how they are harming children,” Bailey said in a statement.
University spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to phone or email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Moving forward, doctors who provide gender-affirming health care must first provide them a lengthy list of potential negative side effects and information warning against those treatments, according to a copy of the rule released Thursday.
Health care providers will need to ensure “any psychiatric symptoms from existing mental health comorbidities of the patient have been treated and resolved” before providing gender-affirming treatments under the new rule. Physicians also must screen patients for social media addiction, autism and signs of “social contagion with respect to the patient’s gender identity.”
The FDA approved puberty blockers 30 years ago to treat children with precocious puberty — a condition that causes sexual development to begin much earlier than usual. Sex hormones — synthetic forms of estrogen and testosterone — were approved decades ago to treat hormone disorders or as birth control pills.
The FDA has not approved the medications specifically to treat gender-questioning youth, but they have been used for many years for that purpose “off label,” a common and accepted practice for many medical conditions. Doctors who treat transgender patients say those decades of use are proof the treatments are not experimental.
Critics have raise concerns about children changing their minds. Yet the evidence suggests detransitioning is not as common as opponents of transgender medical treatment for youth contend, though few studies exist and they have their weaknesses.
Bailey’s rule was released the same day Missouri’s Republican-led House voted to ban access to transgender-related health care for minors.
The House voted 103-52 along mostly party lines in favor of the ban, although the bill’s passage seems uncertain in the Senate.
The House proposal is stricter than what was passed by the GOP-led Senate, where Democrats have more influence through the use of stall tactics.
Senators compromised to exempt care for minors whose treatment is already underway. The Senate bill also would expire after four years.
The House version includes no exceptions for current treatments and would remain in effect indefinitely.
Republican Senate leaders said it’s unlikely that the House version will make it through the Senate.
“We’ve already passed legislation on this issue out of the Senate,” Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden said. “We would expect the House to appreciate how hard and difficult it was and to take up our bill and pass it.”
Both the House and Senate proposals would ban inmates and prisoners from accessing gender-affirming surgeries and would end coverage of any gender-affirming treatments for Missouri patients on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program.
The Human Rights Campaign condemned the legislation in a statement, describing gender-affirming care as medically necessary.
At least 13 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia. Bills are awaiting action from governors in Kansas, Montana and North Dakota. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban care.
House debate on the bill became emotional as some Democrats argued the ban on health care will hurt transgender children.
“You are erasing my grandchild,” said St. Louis Democratic Rep. Barbara Phifer, whose grandson is transgender.
Republican sponsor Rep. Brad Hudson, of Cape Fair, criticized Democrats for threatening to end political partnerships and friendships with Republicans over the bill.
Hudson said his bill “seeks to protect kids” and that it’s unfair that Democrats are describing it as hateful towards transgender children.
“A yes vote is a vote to protect kids from sex-change drugs and surgeries,” Hudson said.
The high-stakes legal battle over a widely used abortion pill has left some blue states busily stockpiling the medication, in anticipation of a time when it could no longer be easily accessible.
The big picture: At least two states say they are creating reserves of mifepristone to continue enabling access to the two-pill regimen for medication abortion that’s at the center of the legal battle. Two others are focusing on the other pill, whose availability isn’t threatened, to offer an alternative.
Misoprostol can be used on its own to terminate a pregnancy, but the method is slightly less effective. The combination regimen is considered the gold standard by health providers.
Driving the news: Last week, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked lower court rulings that put restrictions on the use of mifepristone that the Food and Drug Administration had lifted over the years, including a ban on teleprescribing.
Mifepristone is still available without those limitationsuntil at least Wednesday while anti-abortion groups respond.
But courts have yet to settle anti-abortion groups challenge to the FDA’s overall authorization, and the case could well wind up at the high court again.
What’s happening: The states that have said are stockpiling abortion pills have laws protecting abortion access.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state “secured an emergency stockpile” of up to 2 million doses of misoprostol.
MassachusettsGov. Maura Healey (D) requested the University of Massachusetts purchase around 15,000 doses of mifepristone and has directed individual health providers to do so as well, which the state says will “ensure sufficient coverage … for more than a year.”
The state will financially support any provider by paying for the doses.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) stockpiled 150,000 doses of misoprostol, a projected five-year supply, “to meet anticipated needs.”
In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) purchased a three-year supply of mifepristone through the state’s Department of Corrections, which has a pharmacy license.
Dispensing mifepristone in Washington at the moment is also protected by a separate federal ruling that prohibits the FDA from rolling back access to the drug.
State of play: The Supreme Court could reinstate the restrictions or even scrap the FDA’s approval of the drug, which could cut off access in Massachusetts and Washington state.
If the FDA’s authorization is revoked, it’s possible that providing mifepristone would violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act “because that would cause the introduction of an unapproved drug into interstate commerce,” said Delia Deschaine, an attorney at Epstein Becker Green specializing in FDA regulatory matters.
However, the Justice Department is responsible for enforcing federal law and has argued that mifepristone is safe and effective. That makes it unlikely that the federal government would enforce the law against providers or pharmacies that are prescribing or dispensing mifepristone, even if it’s technically unapproved, Deschaine added.
Yes, but: States would still be subject to the restrictions if they take effect after Wednesday, particularly the in-person prescribing and dispensing requirement.
The first openly gay person to lead the American Medical Association takes the reins at a fractious time for U.S. health care.
Transgender patients and those seeking abortion care face restrictions in many places. The medical judgment of physicians is being overridden by state laws. Disinformation is rampant. And the nation isn’t finished with Covid-19.
In the two decades since Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld first got involved with the AMA as young medical resident, the nation’s largest physicians’ group has tried to shed its image as a conservative self-interested trade association. While physician pocketbook issues remain a big focus, the AMA is also a powerful lobbying force for a range of public health issues.
Two years ago, the AMA won widespread praise for announcing a plan to dismantle structural racism within its ranks and the U.S. medical establishment. It has adopted policies that stress health equity and inclusiveness — moves that inspired critics to accuse it of “wokeness.”
At 44, Ehrenfeld will be among the AMA’s youngest presidents when he begins his one-year term on June 13. An anesthesiologist, Navy combat veteran and father of two young children, he spoke recently to The Associated Press about his background and new job.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q. Why is your being part of the LGBTQ community a big deal at this moment and how will it inform your role as AMA president?
A: I didn’t run as a gay man. That’s not my platform, but it’s a part of my identity. And people know that.
Representation and visibility is so important. I can’t tell you the number of emails, letters, phone calls, text messages that I got when I was elected into this role from people around the world that saw this as an important moment, an important recognition of what inclusivity and equality can be to help advance health equity for everyone.
Q: How will your experience as part of the LGBTQ community inform and influence your new role?
A: I’ve experienced the health care system as a gay person, as a gay parent, as in many ways wonderful positive experiences and other ways, some deeply harmful experiences. And I know that we can do better as a nation. We can do better as a system that can lift up health. And I expect that there’ll be opportunities to shine a light on that during my year as president.
Q: What are examples of those experiences?
A: There’s so many times where our health care system just does not accommodate people who aren’t in the majority. As a gay parent and a gay dad, I can’t tell you how many forms I filled out where there’s a place for the mom and a place for the dad. It’s a small thing. But it’s a signal that we’re different and maybe we’re not welcome or accepted.
When you have those small, subtle irritations that add up day after day after day, whether you’re an LGBT person or from a minority group, that causes stress. These friction points … are so pronounced for so many who are in underserved communities, so many in the LGBT community, and particularly for transgender individuals. And I know we can do better.
I’ve been fortunate to have two beautiful boys brought into this world with the support of an incredible group of physicians. But there were definitely lots of moments along the way where it was clear that we were a little bit different than everybody else in a way that didn’t need to be.
Q: This seems like an unprecedented time for political interference in medicine.
A: I’m deeply concerned about government intrusion into decision-making for patients. The Supreme Court ruling around abortion has had profound implications for reproductive rights. And fundamentally, patients have a right to access evidence-based health care services. That includes comprehensive reproductive health care. It includes care for transgender people.
States that ban abortion, that ban health care for transgender youth are placing the government right into the patient-physician relationship. And we know that this leads to devastating health consequences and can jeopardize lives. The AMA continues to speak out against these kinds of actions.
Q: What power does the AMA really have to protect those rights?
A: I don’t think we’re powerless at all. The AMA was deeply involved in helping the Biden Administration put out guidance to help physicians and patients understand that you don’t have to disclose private medical information to third parties. And we’ll continue to call for things like unrestricted access to (the abortion drug) mifepristone.
Q: Are you discouraged by the number of states that seem to be jumping on this bandwagon?
A: I’m an optimist. There are particular political divisions that are different right now. The attack on science, the attack on following the evidence to deliver care is new. Globally, it has accelerated during the pandemic, but the rampant misinformation, disinformation — all of those challenges are things I know we can overcome. It requires the AMA to lift up our voices and to not give up.
Q: Will addressing the nation’s mental health crisis be part of your role?
A: We need Congress to take action. There have been 15 years now of repeated failures by health care companies to comply with what was a landmark law in 2008 around mental health parity and substance use disorder.
That law passed by Congress has never been enforced. Those violations continue to be more serious than they were a decade ago.
It affects patients with autism. It affects patients with eating disorders, substance use disorders. It delays care. It’s harming patients.
And we are likely causing deaths to happen that are avoidable. We know that there are federal actions that could be taken to help with this, including enabling patients to recover losses associated with an improper denial of care.
The other aspect around mental health access that is really important is permanently expanding access to telehealth.
Q: Critics have long said the AMA is primarily a self-interested trade group. How is that a misconception?
A: We have a pretty simple message, and it’s to elevate the art and science of medicine for the betterment of human health. And that’s why we care about things like climate change and things like health equity.
We have to make sure that there is joy in the practice of medicine. We have to make sure that our health care systems reward and support and allow practices to thrive.
And you look at boneheaded decisions like the fact that physicians got a 2% pay cut from Medicare this past January as opposed to an inflation update. Those are things that are important. They’re financial.
But without advocacy in those realms, practices will close. Medicare patients won’t have a doctor to see. And we just we can’t allow that to happen.
