Over the past two years, numerous states have enacted laws imposing civil penalties and criminal bans targeting pregnant people, transgender individuals, and the LGBTQ+ community. These laws are based on concepts of morality rather than identified safety needs. They are far-reaching, often enabling invasive surveillance of pregnant, queer, trans, and gender-expansive people. And their enforcement significantly threatens the health, rights, and safety of all communities.
Fear of prosecution under these restrictive laws has led to physicians delaying or denying life-saving care in pregnancy emergencies. In abortion-ban states, women have been denied care for routine medical conditions like ectopic pregnancies, premature rupture of the membranes, and when the embryo has not developed a skull (a fatal condition). Indeed, a recent investigation confirmed that Georgia’s abortion ban caused the preventable deaths of at least two mothers, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller.
For queer and trans people, these morality laws restrict where they can go, deny them access to gender-affirming health care, and even regulate clothing and drag performances. These measures disproportionately harm people already at risk of hate crimes, and their impacts extend beyond the borders of states that have enacted such legislation. The enforcement of such legislation places people’s lives and safety at risk while misallocating police and city resources.
It's crucial to recognize that while these laws remain on the books, they do not need to be enforced as violent and serious crimes are. In fact, law enforcement has traditionally deprioritized enforcement of similar so-called “morality laws,” rather, choosing to allocate finite police resources to public safety matters of actual importance to the community. Using police resources and taxpayer dollars to enforce these measures is both an inefficient and harmful use of public funds. Instead, as we continue to advocate and protest for the restoration of fundamental rights, law enforcement agencies have a vital role to play by intentionally refraining from enforcing laws that infringe on personal freedoms and contribute to widespread harm.
Community advocates, healthcare providers, and residents around the country agree that communities deserve to feel safe while accessing healthcare and expressing themselves. This is why we have published a white paper, Do Not Investigate: Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws, about how police departments and city governments can deprioritize enforcement of these laws. The paper draws on insights from community advocates, municipal government staff, and law enforcement agency leaders from states with these laws in place. We found that police seldom, if ever, receive calls requesting enforcement of these laws–instead, community members ask them to prioritize serious violent crimes or report nuisances affecting their quality of life, such as noise. Enforcing morality laws, police said, would undo the significant work they have done to build trusting relationships with these community members.
The paper provides 20 recommendations for actions that municipal governments and law enforcement can take now, including by:
- Affirming a public commitment to the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ and pregnant people.
- Directing law enforcement leadership to allocate no funds to enforce anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ+, or anti-abortion laws.
- Protecting the people and communities targeted by these laws against hate crimes and vigilante violence.
By following the recommendations outlined in our paper, local governments and police agencies can play a pivotal role in mitigating the negative impacts of these laws and instead allow their residents to feel safe in accessing healthcare services and in taking part in their communities.
CPE Gender, Identity and Safety Resources:
- Deprioritization White Paper
- Deprioritization Brief
- Deprioritization Community Toolkit
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