On Thursday, June 15, 2023, Senate Republican Leader Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View) and Senate Republican Whip Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) expressed their concerns about House Bill 230 (HB 230), which was recently introduced by members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses. The Republican leaders issued a statement highlighting their opposition to the bill and its potential consequences for parental rights in Delaware.
According to their statement, HB 230 aims to change Delaware’s policy regarding gender-affirming care for children. It would allow parental concerns about their children receiving irreversible gender-affirming care to be disregarded under state law. The bill also grants the Family Court the power to resolve custody disputes when a child is in the state to receive gender-affirming medical care and the provision of such care is contested in the custody case. Additionally, it prevents the implementation of an out-of-state court order that removes a child from a parent who consents to the child receiving gender-affirming medical care.
The Republican leaders argue that children are rarely held criminally liable because they are still developing mentally, emotionally, and cognitively. They do not have the same level of judgment or grasp of their consequences as adults. So, why would we permit a child to undergo irreversible changes to his or her body when their minds and bodies have yet to mature?
In the view of Senate Republicans Hocker and Pettyjohn, HB 230 represents a significant erosion of parental rights in Delaware. They express their firm opposition to this legislation and assert that they will not accept such a blatant violation of parental rights becoming law in Delaware. They also encourage Delawareans to join them in standing against this bill.
“This is possibly the most blatant erosion of parental rights in the history of our state. We will not stand for this type of legislation becoming law and neither should Delawareans.”
House Bill 230 seeks to amend existing laws and provide legal protections for providers of gender-affirming health care. The bill clarifies the rights of medical professionals who provide such care would prohibit the disclosure of patient information without authorization, protects health care providers from out-of-state civil actions, creates a cause of action for the recovery of out-of-state judgments related to gender-affirming services, and prohibits insurance companies from taking adverse actions against health care professionals who offer gender-affirming health care services.