WASHINGTON — Today, American Principles Project (APP) issued an advisory for families considering travel to California or Minnesota due to dangerous attempts by their governments aimed at overriding parental rights.

Both states have recently passed laws which legal experts argue could result in even out-of-state parents losing custody of their children. These laws give state family courts the power to take temporary emergency jurisdiction over a minor coming into the state to access sex-change drugs or surgical procedures, regardless of if the minor is traveling from another state.

Additional legislation is also being considered in California which would further stack the deck against parents, requiring family courts to “strongly consider that affirming the minor’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child if a nonconsenting parent objects” to their child changing his or her name. Furthermore, California law also prohibits healthcare providers from notifying parents about sex-change procedures being offered to their child, even in cases where the child may be receiving information from California providers from another state.

Cases have already been documented of parents losing custody because of their child’s transgender identification, including, for example, California mother Abby Martinez, whose daughter Yaeli was removed from her home after Yaeli began identifying as a male. Yaeli tragically committed suicide a few years afterward.

APP President Terry Schilling released the following statement on the organization’s unprecedented warning:

“Parents will do anything to protect our children. To lose your child and be powerless to prevent harm from coming to them would be any parent’s worst nightmare. Yet today, families traveling to California or Minnesota could be at risk for that awful scenario actually playing out — losing custody of their kids to an industry that aims to sterilize and mutilate their bodies. It is frightening, and enraging, to think such anti-family policies have taken hold here in the United States.

“While we have seen great strides throughout the country by lawmakers fighting back against this agenda, we must still be realistic about where things stand. Right now, parents traveling to both these states with their children run a very real risk of having their families ripped apart. Until the terrible laws enabling this abuse are nullified or repealed, parents need to be aware of these risks and plan accordingly.

“We additionally call on all pro-family Americans to join with APP in working to overturn these horrific policies. And we especially urge federal legislators to take action to rein in the attempts of these rogue states to break apart families nationwide. The family is the bedrock of our society, and we will not flourish as a nation until the preeminence of the family is once again recognized throughout our law.”

To schedule an engagement with American Principles Project, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.