As a committee prepares to consider a bill that would ban medical professionals from assisting minors with gender transition, more than 500 health care providers from across the state have signed a letter to the members of the Georgia state House urging them to vote against the measure.
The letter, obtained by our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu, has the names of pediatricians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and other health care providers, many from the Atlanta area, who say providing care lowers the risk of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts for transgender and nonbinary youth.
Senate Bill 140 would not ban medication that slows or stops puberty, but it would bar health care professionals from giving hormones such as estrogen or testosterone to transgender minors. Doctors also would not be allowed to perform surgeries on children. The bill is scheduled to be discussed in the House Public Health Committee meeting at 1 p.m. today.
Supporters of the measure say doctors should not allow children and their parents to make permanent decisions about their health care. The bill’s sponsor is state Sen. Carden Summers. The Cordele Republican says issues stemming from gender dysphoria, the medical diagnosis for many transgender people, will “resolve themselves” as children become young adults.
The medical professionals had a message for Summers and other lawmakers pushing the legislation. “We’ll tell you what we tell the parents of transgender kids who visit our clinics: you don’t need to understand everything about what it’s like to be transgender to know that all kids deserve to be healthy and safe,” they wrote. “When it comes to family decisions about health care, we work hard to give parents all the information they need to make informed choices and to respect each families’ unique circumstances and decisions. Politicians shouldn’t be in the room for private family conversations like this.”
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Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
UNDER SIEGE. Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez must feel like she’s under siege.
Republicans want to make her the face of the nationally watched movement to give the state new powers to investigate, sanction or oust local prosecutors who engage in “willful misconduct” or other violations.
Her constituents heckled her at a hostile town hall earlier this month. And now a local bar owner named Jarrod Miller has filed a legal complaint that claims she “has been unable and unwilling to perform her statutory duties.” It asks a judge to order her to “comply with her duties or be held in contempt.”
Gonzalez has emerged as a prime example for GOP supporters of a new prosecutorial oversight commission. Gov. Brian Kemp and state Rep. Houston Gaines — both residents of her district who have feuded with her — are championing the overhaul.
Included in the lawsuit is one reason why Gonzalez has become a target: A two-page letter signed by four local judges who plead for her help with even mundane legal matters, such as providing timely discovery and witness lists and better coordinating with law enforcement.
“With so many cases waiting to be tried, it is imperative that the court not be further delayed by the state’s lack of preparation and/or failure to follow proper procedures,” the letter read.
The lawsuit from the bar owner points to other crises within the office, such as an exodus of staff prosecutors and a series of cases against violent offenders that were dismissed, some on grounds they ran afoul of speedy trial rules.
Gonzalez said she’s being made into a convenient punching bag for Republicans upset at her progressive approach, which includes a refusal to prosecute low-level drug violations and truancy offenses.
She calls it part of a “broader, politically-motivated campaign to undermine prosecutors who have been elected by their communities to pursue smart justice that moves away from the failed ‘tough on crime’ strategies of the past.”
The attacks, she added, “have nothing to do with making our communities safer and everything to do with deflecting attention away from our society’s refusal to seriously address the causes of crime.”
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME, Legislative Day 32:
- 7 a.m.: Committee meetings begin;
- 10 a.m.: The House gavels in;
- 10 a.m.: The Senate convenes.
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Credit: Oliver Contreras/The New York Times
Credit: Oliver Contreras/The New York Times
INSULIN FOLO. Fresh off the news that pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly had voluntarily lowered the price of insulin for all customers to match new federal caps for those on Medicare, Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is pleading with other companies to follow suit.
On Monday, the Democrat sent letters to two additional insulin manufacturers as well as a handful of insurance companies. The identical letters also note that in July, insurer United Healthcare said it was eliminating out-of-pocket insulin costs for customers.
“While Congress passed part of my legislation to cap insulin costs for seniors, there are still too many Americans who cannot afford their insulin,” Warnock writes.
The letters were sent to manufacturers Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, as well as to insurers Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Centene, Cigna, CVS Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Molina.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will travel to Monterey Park, California, to discuss his efforts to reduce gun violence. Later, he will speak at a Las Vegas reception for the Democratic National Committee.
- The House is on recess this week.
- The Senate is back and focused on confirmations.
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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
EQUAL PAY. U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams is marking Equal Pay Day today. The date that shifts each year to mark how long into 2023 the average woman must work to make what the average man was paid in 2022.
Williams and three other Democratic women in the U.S. House are introducing an Equal Pay Day resolution.
“When women are underpaid at work, it sends the offensive message that we are considered to be worth less than men,” Williams, D-Atlanta, said in a news release. “It’s even more offensive that Black and brown women must work substantially later into the year to earn their fair pay.”
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SPENDY CITY. As the decision of which city will host the 2024 Democratic National Convention comes down to the wire, Politico is reporting that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has assured organizers he’ll cover any debts incurred by the party, even if it means spending some of his vast personal fortune. More:
“Pritzker’s team is hoping to lure the party to Chicago with what’s essentially a financially risk-free 2024 convention. Federal funds don’t generally cover conventions, though security for the U.S. Secret Service is funded through a federal grant for as much as $50 million to pay for, among other things, additional police presence. So having a billionaire governor as a stopgap could be alluring.”
Chicago, New York and Atlanta are the three finalists for the marquis political event.
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Credit: Paul Sancya/AP
Credit: Paul Sancya/AP
BIDEN CARTER. Then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden helped lift Jimmy Carter’s political career in 1976 when he became one of the first prominent politicians outside of Georgia to endorse the former governor’s bid for the presidency.
Now Biden is poised to deliver a final sendoff for Carter, he revealed at a Monday fundraiser in California. According to the White House pool report, Biden told donors at a fundraiser that Carter asked him to deliver his eulogy.
“Excuse me, I shouldn’t say that,” he quickly added.
The 98-year-old Carter is now in hospice care at his home in Plains.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
BOOK SHOP STOP. Stacey Abrams’ 2021 book tour ahead of her second campaign for Georgia governor did not include any stops in the state, as noted in a New York Times article recapping her loss.
That will not be the case for Abrams’ tour to publicize her latest book, “Rogue Justice.” The nine-stop tour for the mystery set at the Supreme Court will include a May event hosted by A Cappella Books at the Carter Center.
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Credit: Bob Andres/AP
Credit: Bob Andres/AP
SILENCE FOR THE LATE SPEAKER. The state House will pause this morning to honor the late House Speaker David Ralston on what would have been his 69th birthday. Ralston died in November after an illness.
State Rep. Mack Jackson, a Sandersville Democrat, will serve as the House’s Chaplain of the Day. Jackson is a pastor who delivered the eulogy for Ralston during his memorial service in November.
Jackson will begin the remembrance this morning, which will include a video and a resolution to honor Ralston. The late Speaker’s family will also be in the House chamber for the events.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. We have always known our Jolt readership is extraordinary, and now we have proof in Linus, the incredible diving rescue dog from Atlanta.
Linus was adopted from the Atlanta Humane Society four years ago by AJC subscriber and devoted Jolt reader Lee Henley. Linus now enjoys chicken, naps, and competing in North American Diving Dog competitions around Metro Atlanta.
As sports (and dog) fans ourselves, we say, you’re a winner, Linus!
Send us your pups of any political persuasion — and cats on a cat-by-case basis — to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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