Everyone has the right to be who they are and to express their gender in ways that work for them. Yet politicians continue to villainize transgender people simply for being who they are, and to make private spaces unsafe.

This legislation is clearly a response to pro-Palestine and anti-war student protestors. We recognize and deplore the disingenuous use of charges of antisemitism to advance H.R. 9495. We know the rights of Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQ, and all young people are intertwined. We are committed to an intersectional approach that reaches across identity and issue area silos towards greater solidarity and allyship. 

Nex Benedict should be alive today. While this announcement is a move toward justice for survivors of violence and abuse, many young people remain at risk. Elected officials must stop playing political games with students’ lives and adopt the Biden Administration’s updated Title IX guidance. Students' lives are at stake.

Make no mistake: we are no stranger to setbacks, and youth activists will continue to strategize and mobilize against misinformation and extremism in all its forms. Advocates for Youth remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting young people and their ability to make informed decisions about their body and their future unobstructed by political extremism or judicial activism – regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.

We are devastated to learn of the death of Nevaeh Crain. No young person should face suffering and death from pregnancy complications. But political extremists have forced this danger on young people.

This week brought the tragic news that the Texas abortion ban led to the deaths of at least two women in 2021. Josseli Barnica was forced to wait for miscarriage care, which was delayed to ensure compliance with the Texas abortion ban, and died of the ensuing infection. A Pro-Publica report found that at least one other woman died in 2021 as a result of the Texas abortion ban - and unknown numbers of others in the years since.