The Quickie: Anti-Transgender and Anti-Sex Education Bills Move in State Legislatures

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: A state fights round up tracking harmful anti-transgender and anti-sex education bills.

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: Harmful anti-transgender and anti-sex education bills continue to move.

• Idaho: The Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee approved a bill that would ban public funding for gender-affirming care, including for adults (HB 668). The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration. It has already passed the House. In good news, SB1234, a bill mandating that insurance companies dispense up to six months of birth control at a time for Idahoans, has passed the legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk.  
• Kansas: Several anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ bills are advancing:
  • SB 233, a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors passed the House last week. The Senate is poised to vote to concur soon and send the measure to the governor's desk. 
  • SB 498, a bill aimed at giving tax credits to anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” passed the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee on Thursday. It is expected to be up for a Senate floor vote soon. 
  • HB 2749, the onerous abortion reporting bill, has a hearing in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.
  • SB 527, a measure that claims to criminalize “abortion coercion,” has a hearing on Tuesday in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. The House version (HB2813) is also expected to come up in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
  • HB 2653, a bill requiring child support from the moment of conception, is expected to be heard in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee on Tuesday. A version of this bill has already passed the Senate.
• Iowa: Amid concerns over IVF access, Senate lawmakers have shelved a dangerous “fetal personhood” bill that would criminalize people for causing the death of an “unborn person.” The bill had already passed the Iowa House. Senators did advance an amended version of a hostile sex education bill (HF 2617). HF 2617 would mandate that students watch an anti-abortion video produced by Live Action. This video, titled "Meet Baby Olivia," is misleading, medically inaccurate, and explicitly asserts that life begins at fertilization. The bill has already passed the House. 
• Tennessee: House lawmakers also gave first approval of a “Baby Olivia” bill (HB 2435) in Tennessee. The measure would require schools to show a three-minute ultrasound or computer animation of a developing fetus as part of their “family life” curriculum and explicitly lists the Baby Olivia video as an example of a compliant video.
• Mississippi: Several anti-transgender bills have advanced in Mississippi including SB 2753 and HB 1607 which would codify a harmful definition of sex and gender being defined at birth into state law, and restrict trans people from using certain bathrooms. Mississippi legislators also pushed HB 900 and HB 1100 through the House. Each bill is aimed at restricting young people from accessing contraceptives by requiring parental consent before a minor can get contraceptive care. These bills were advanced after the Fifth Circuit issued its ruling in Deanda v. Becerra.
• Oklahoma: The House has passed HB 3013, legislation that would charge individuals who deliver and possess medication abortion with felony drug trafficking charges. Those convicted could face up to 10 years in prison and $100,000. The bill now heads to the Senate. 
• Nebraska: LB 937, an unrelated revenue committee bill was amended to include language that would provide tax credits to people who donate to anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers.”
• Utah: Gov. Cox signed HB560 into law, a measure repealing parts of the state’s abortion clinic ban (last year’s HB 467). Supporters of the law claim that it could allow the state’s Supreme Court to rule on the state’s trigger ban, which is currently blocked pending further litigation. However, while both the clinic ban and the trigger ban are currently enjoined, the Utah Supreme Court is reviewing only the trigger ban injunction, not the clinic ban injunction. The law took immediate effect upon the Governor’s signature.