Ignoring massive public opposition, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee signed a radical bill Tuesday to allow shelters to hide runaway children from their parents without any allegations of abuse and allow them to have taxpayer-funded, elective abortions and sex-change treatments.
The Post Millennial reports nearly 4,700 people signed up to oppose state Senate Bill 5599 during a Senate hearing in February. Parents also organized protests at the state capitol in Olympia, and Republican lawmakers unanimously opposed the bill, according to CBN.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, passed the Democrat-controlled state legislature anyway, and Inslee signed it in a small ceremony Tuesday.
Scheduled to go into effect in July, the legislation allows runaway children as young as 13 to stay in licensed youth shelters without their parents’ knowledge – even if there are no signs of abuse. Until now, state law required shelters to notify parents within 72 hours, My Northwest reports. Shelters also can help minors get taxpayer-funded abortions and sex-change hormones and surgeries without telling their parents.
According to the Post Millennial, the bill says shelters do not have to notify parents if the child has a “compelling reason” not to, such as “seeking placement in a host home to receive protected health care services.” These “services” include elective abortions and sex-change surgeries and hormones.
There does not have to be any evidence or even allegations of abuse for the shelter to hide information from parents.
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“Among its many flaws, the bill assumes families that don’t ‘affirm’ a child’s short-term desires are being abusive. Wrong!” said state Rep Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, in a statement. “Sometimes love requires parents to not affirm their child’s whims. Loving parents guide their children as they grow. Sometimes that means saying ‘no.’”
Walsh said parents are the ones who have the primary responsibility to raise their children, not the government.
Others warned that the bill applies to children from other states, too, not just Washington.
“The only thing SB 5599 would do is cause harm by driving a wedge between vulnerable kids and their parents, at a time when a teen lacks the perception and judgment to make critical life-altering decisions,” state Senate Republican Leader John Braun said in a statement. “A parent may not even know why the child ran away and could involve law enforcement or other groups in a desperate search… all the while going through an unnecessary emotional nightmare, imagining the worst about what might have happened.”
Wide-spread opposition to the bill did not just come from conservative and pro-life parents and organizations. Even parents from the LGBTQ community testified in opposition to the bill, Braun said.
According to the Post Millennial: “Efforts to repeal the legislation have already begun, with some representatives planning to turn this into a referendum for the November election. The new law is set to begin at the end of July unless enough valid signatures – approximately 162,000- are gathered to put it on hold until a statewide vote.”
Inslee signed four more four pro-abortion bills into law in April, including one to protect abortionists who kill unborn babies and another to allow the state to sell dangerous abortion pills.
Washington state law allows unborn babies to be aborted for basically any reason up to birth and forces state taxpayers to pay for elective abortions. In 2020, 16,050 unborn babies were aborted, according to the state health department.
