A group of 24 Minnesota legislators are calling on Gov. Kristi Noem to impose penalties “against anyone participating materially in luring or transporting South Dakota minors” to Minnesota for “gender-affirming health care.”
“It is our belief that a line now needs to be drawn here, at this exact point in our history as a nation,” they write. “Criminal penalties for kidnapping and child mutilation are in order and well-justified.”
24 MN Senate & House legislators co-signed a letter to SD Gov. Kristi Noem urging her to use her influence/authority to prevent any who might participate in child transport through SD to MN to be involved in heinous puberty blocking chemicals or gender mutilation surgery. pic.twitter.com/W0nI7aIMLV
— Eric Lucero (@EricLuceroMN) May 11, 2023
This, they believe, is necessary because recent actions by the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which requires “that state courts respect the laws and judgments of courts from other states.”
Walz signed an executive order in March directing state agencies to not comply with out-of-state investigations related to “transgender health care.” The legislature then passed the highly polarizing “trans refuge” bill, which states that no subpoena from another state will be recognized in Minnesota if it relates to a law “designed to interfere with an individual’s right to receive gender-affirming health care.”
Opponents of the bill said it could also result in out-of-state parents losing custody of their children if they object to so-called “gender affirming health care.”
“These recent laws make it legal for a minor from South Dakota to be transported to Minnesota for the sole purpose of receiving these surgeries or puberty blockers without the knowledge or consent of that child’s parents, in violation of South Dakota state law,” the Republican legislators say in their letter to Noem.
Noem signed a bill in February that prohibits South Dakota doctors from providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-reassignment surgeries to minors. Minnesota’s “trans refuge” bill was passed in direct response to this and other similar laws in GOP-led states.
According to the group of legislators, Minnesota Democrats are “profoundly breaking faith with the State of South Dakota in a matter that could not be more sacred or central to the well-being and interests of the People of South Dakota.”
“We are hereby making the most urgent appeal that you issue a public statement to the effect that penalties will be imposed against anyone participating materially in luring or transporting South Dakota minors for the purpose of providing ‘transgender health care,’ including so-called gender-reassignment surgery and other related medical procedures,” they write.
“States must be held accountable for going so far as to violate the U.S. Constitution to commit acts that are inherently evil. Actions which result in the mutilation of children are crimes, and the perpetrators, along with their accomplices, must be held accountable.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
