The Alaska Medical Board has taken steps toward banning body-mutilating gender surgeries for minors and has recommended that the Alaska Legislature prohibit late-term abortions.
Last month, the board unanimously approved a draft regulation during its quarterly meeting, which added efforts to provide “medical or surgical intervention to treat gender dysphoria or facilitate gender transition by altering sex characteristics inconsistent with the biological sex at birth” to a list of actions deemed unprofessional conduct.
The proposal specifies that prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones, as well as performing gender transition surgeries such as mastectomy, phalloplasty, or genital modification on children under 18, are examples of "unprofessional conduct."
However, the draft includes exceptions for procedures to treat "congenital sex development disorders or non-elective procedures for physical injury."
The board, which convenes four times annually, consists of five physicians, one physician assistant, and two public members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. Its responsibilities include enforcing the state's medical laws, making final licensing decisions, and taking disciplinary actions against violations of those laws.
The draft regulation will undergo review by the Alaska Department of Law and will be open for a 30-day public comment period before it becomes effective, according to The Alaska Beacon. Some residents voiced opposition during a public meeting on August 22.
Currently, 27 states have laws that prohibit trans-identified youth from accessing some or all gender transition procedures because of concerns about their long-term health impacts.
The Alaska Medical Board also issued a statement criticizing the state's allowance of elective late-term abortions “up until the time of delivery.”
“This is not ethical medical practice and does not embody the values of Alaskans,” the statement reads. “Many Alaskans and even physicians are unaware of this.”
The board urged residents to “engage with their representatives and to advocate for new legislation to bring state law into alignment with community values on this issue.”
Data from the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America shows that 21 states prohibit abortion after 12 weeks or earlier, but Alaska is among the 29 states with “few or no protections” for unborn babies.
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research organization, lists Alaska as one of nine states with “no ban or gestational limit” on abortion, meaning that abortion can occur during all nine months of pregnancy.
The state Supreme Court has recognized a right to abortion in the Alaska Constitution, which allows abortion to remain legal in the state.
