Illinois lawmakers this month introduced legislation that would classify parents’ opposition to gender ideology as child abuse.
According to House Bill 4876, the term “abused child” will now include children who live with someone who denies them access to gender mutilation surgeries, chemical castrations, puberty blockers, or abortions.
The bill “provides that ‘abused child’ means a child whose parent or immediate family member, or any person responsible for the child’s welfare, or any individual residing in the same home as the child, or a paramour of the child’s parent denies the child access to necessary medical care, including, but not limited to, primary care services, abortion services, or gender-affirming services.”
HB 4876 also protects medical professionals who provide such “care” to minors without parental consent.
The bill’s introduction comes as two parents of a gender-confused child in Indiana are warning the nation after the state seized their son over “pronouns.”
Mary and Jeremy Cox are appealing to the Supreme Court after their son was taken from them in 2021 because they refused to indulge his gender disorientation. The boy had declared himself a girl in 2019, changed his name, and insisted everyone refer to him as “she/her.” But his Catholic parents declined to do so and instead sought therapeutic care for their son, who also had an eating disorder.
When Illinois authorities were alerted that the Coxes were refusing to treat their son as a girl, Child Protective Services seized the child and placed him in a “gender-affirming” home. The boy’s eating disorder worsened, but the state nevertheless claimed that it was the parents who exacerbated the condition by treating him as a boy.
Mary and Jeremy Cox were allowed to visit their son a few hours each week and were forbidden from discussing with him gender identity and religion. The state’s decision was upheld on appeal, and the parents are now turning to the US Supreme Court as their last hope.
“This is what every parent is afraid of,” the bereaved Coxes said in a press release. “We love our son and wanted to care for him, but the state of Indiana robbed us of that opportunity by taking him from our home and banning us from speaking to him about gender.”
“We are hopeful that the Justices will take our case and protect other parents from having to endure the nightmare we did,” they added.
Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Beckett Law which is representing the Coxes, warned that this is not an isolated case.
“If this can happen in Indiana, it can happen anywhere. Tearing a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs, which are shared by millions of Americans, is an outrage to the law, parental rights, and basic human decency,” said Windham. “If the Supreme Court doesn’t take this case, how many times will this happen to other families?”
