Maine Judiciary Committee Shoots Down Bill That Would Have Allowed Courts To Take ‘Emergency Jurisdiction’ Over Children Seeking Gender-Transitioning

A legislative committee in Maine has killed a bill that would have given a state court "temporary emergency jurisdiction" over a child if "it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child … because the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care."

The bill, Maine LD 1735 ("An Act To Safeguard Gender-Affirming Health Care"), also would have prevented courts from "considering as a factor weighing against the petitioner any taking of the child, retention of the child after a visit or other temporary relinquishment of physical custody, from the person who has legal custody, if there is evidence that the taking or retention of the child was for the purposes of obtaining gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care for the child."