Democratic AGs are accused of abusing their legal power to obtain information about transgender minors by financing Democrats.

In a broader effort to limit exposure to gender-affirming health care across the country, republican lawyers general in at least four states have abused their monitoring authority to demand the personal health records of transgender minors and adults, according to a report from the Senate Finance Committee, which was released on Tuesday.

Prosecutors General Ken Paxton of Texas, Todd Rokita of Indiana, Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee, and Andrew Bailey of Missouri are conducting aggressive inquiries into those who seek and provide transition-related treatment, according to a report from the committee’s majority of the Democratic team.

These activities research health services on the delivery of transgender medical attention, the report says, adding that the investigations are motivated by “ideological and social goals. ”

The GOP attorney general’s offices have been contacted for reply by The Hill.

The attorney general’s office in Tennessee claimed that its investigation was directed at health care providers, not individuals.

After watching a movie in which a VUMC doctor allegedly manipulated accounting rules to avoid insurance policy limits, our Civil Medicaid Fraud Unit began looking into it, according to Tennessee AG spokesman Amy Lannom Wilhite. “There is no social exclusion to our scams rules, and we will continue to investigate as the data needs, independently of a doctor’s philosophy. ”

Gender-affirming heath care for transgender minors is now banned in Texas, Indiana, Tennessee and Missouri under a stone of legislation passed in 2023 that limit access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery. Treatments for minors and some adults have also been severely restricted or prohibited in twenty different states.

According to Tuesday’s report, the four attorneys general “have gone yet further” than simply outlawing nationwide care by “using their oversight authorities to research transgender health care across the United States.” ”

PFLAG National, a volunteer Gay advocacy group, sued Paxton in February after his company requested that it provide information about its support for transgender kids receiving gender-affirming health care. According to Paxton’s office, the request was related to allegations of “misrepresentations ” of transgender health care that were in violation of a state law protecting against false or misleading business practices.

Seattle Children’s Hospital sued the attorney general’s office in December after it received a summons requesting individual information of Texas occupants who had received gender-affirming attention. Paxton is also facing a similar complaint from the same hospital. Similar demands were made by Paxton in November of QueerMed, a healthcare office with a Georgian base.

The attorneys general of Missouri and Indiana have used consumer protection legislation to support inquiries into transgender facilities. A short-lived crisis guideline issued by Bailey, the Missouri attorney general, next year claimed gender-affirming treatments were now banned in the state under an existing law governing “unfair, false, and inexcusable business practices. ”

The attorney general’s office in Tennessee has contacted the transgender health clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with at least three civil investigative requests involving Medicaid fraud allegations. TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, explicitly excludes gender-affirming health care.

“Attorneys General are weaponizing their oversight authorities for their own political gain, at the expense of LGBTQIA+ people and their families, ” Tuesday ’s report states. “Further, by implicating the Medicaid program, a cornerstone public insurance program for low-income Americans, these efforts undermine the integrity of public health care. ”

Including Tennessee, at least 13 states prohibit the use of Medicaid for gender-affirming care.

In a statement, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore. The four attorneys general in the report are “missusing their authority to terrorize transgender teens, ” according to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee. ”

“It’s shameful that law-enforcement officials are choosing to persecute teens trying to live their lives, just to score points with far-right activists, ” he said. Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s decision to turn over patient records to the attorney general was also criticized by Wyden, calling it an “utter betrayal.” ”

After publishing the report, Wyden and other Democrats wrote to health care industry trade groups to urge hospitals and providers to protect their patients ‘ private medical records from “abusive legal demands by state attorneys general. ” ”