(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Ballot proposals in Michigan and Vermont would let children undergo sex-change procedures and abortions without parental approval, in a move that critics said would open the door to even more abuses under the urgings of far-leftist orthodoxy.
In Michigan, Proposal 3 would add a provision to the state constitution that guarantees a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” that goes well beyond unlimited, on-demand abortions, including third-trimester abortions and partial-birth abortions, the Daily Signal reported.
In Vermont, Proposal 5 would amend the state’s constitution to include “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy,” but again the provision does not stop at abortion.
Both proposals have such vague language that critics believe their advocates intend them to protect and expand sex-change operations, sterilization drugs and cross-sex hormone injections, including for children.
Michigan defines “reproductive freedom” to include “the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
Transgender procedures could fall under “contraception” or “sterilization” because phalloplasties, vaginoplasties and hormone blockers ensure the patient’s permanent sterilization.
Michigan’s proposal does not specify the age at which reproductive freedom becomes an essential right.
“A constitutional right to ‘sterilization’ presumably includes a right to be sterilized to align one’s sex and gender identity,” said John Bursch, vice president of appellate advocacy and senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan claimed the constitutional amendment would have no affect on “gender-affirming care for minors.”
Vermont’s proposal asserts that “reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
If it passes, Vermont’s constitution would not indicate the age at which residents have reproductive autonomy.
“By using the word ‘individual’ instead of ‘woman,’ it removes gender and age restrictions on whom this applies to,” said Matthew Strong, executive director of Vermonters for Good Government.
“Minor/children’s transgender issues is just one of many intended goals with this, and the extreme agendas in the school system are already hard at work on this.”
