Washington Governor Jay Inslee sued over ‘state-sanctioned kidnapping’ law that lets minors access sex changes, abortion without parental knowledge or consent

America First Legal (AFL) sued Inslee, the Attorney General of Washington and current gubernatorial candidate Bob Furguson, and the Secretary of the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families Ross Hunter to stop the enforcement of Senate Bill 5599, a new law that allows shelters to take in children struggling with gender dysphoria and potentially provide them with life-altering “care” (potentially including sterilization) without parental consent or knowledge.

According to a release from the organization, “The recently signed legislation creates a dangerous incentive for minors who disagree with their parents on ‘gender-affirming care’ to run away to a shelter or host home. The new law takes away a requirement of notice to parents.”

“Furthermore, the law authorizes the state to refer a minor for ‘behavioral health services’ without defining what this entails. In practice, this means that young children who run away from home could be receiving chemical sterilization drugs or even genital mutilation without the consent or knowledge of the parents.”

“This new statute deprives certain parents of their fundamental rights under the United States Constitution to direct the care and upbringing of their children. America First Legal is proud to defend parental rights and stand up against the insidious ‘gender-affirming care’ agenda, which promotes using experimental medical procedures and drugs on minor children – potentially altering their lives forever.”

Stephen Miller, a former Trump advisor who leads the non-profit said in a statement, “America First Legal is leading the courtroom charge against radical transgenderism and the sexual exploitation of our children by militant gender activists. No state action more frighteningly illustrates the threat to our children than this law. This sick, authoritarian law essentially allows the state to kidnap children from their parents and hide their whereabouts to surgically and chemically mutilate them — and to formally deprive their parents of any legal ability to stop the medical disfigurement of their sons and daughters by gender extremists targeting their children.”

Miller added, “This law is illegal, unconstitutional, and evil. This litigation is about saving our children from those who abuse their innocence, torment their minds, and disfigure their bodies. America First Legal will be unrelenting in the struggle to save the rapidly vanishing civil, legal, and medical rights of kids, moms, and dads in America.“

Despite massive pushback, protests, and letter-writing campaigns, Inslee, in a closed ceremony, signed into law the controversial Senate Bill 5599 in May which critics say encourages minors to run away from home to receive "gender-affirming" care and "maternity services" without parental consent and at taxpayer expense. In plain English, sex changes and abortions.

Introduced by far-left Democratic State Sen. Marko Liias, co-chair of the LGBTQ caucus, the legislation allows shelters or host homes to provide housing for runaway minors without being required to notify their parents if they have a "compelling reason" to keep the information a secret.

According to the law, a "compelling reason" means "the youth is in the host home or seeking placement in a host home to receive protected health care services."

The legislation allows shelters to contact the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) instead of the parents should the child be seeking an experimental sex change or reproductive services, but does not require proof of abuse in the household nor even an allegation of abuse.

As a result, merely seeking "protected health care services" is enough of a reason to keep the runaway’s location hidden from parents. Children between the ages of 13 and 18 can stay at these facilities without their parents’ knowledge for an indefinite time while seeking services related to gender dysphoria and gender transitioning.

Republican legislators voted unanimously against the bill.