A prominent conservative lawyer who craftedThe Texas bounty hunter antiabortion law was the catalyst for the legal path to its repeal Roe v. WadeA new lawsuit has been filed by the plaintiff to limit access to preventive HIV medications known as HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (or PrEP).
Jonathan Mitchell, a former Republican Solicitor General of Texas and now a private lawyer. has spent yearsTo limit abortion access same sex marriageThe same sex intercourse. argues in his new lawsuitPrEP is available for free to all Christian clients as mandatedThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a violation to religious freedoms.
His argument is clearly anti-LGBTQ. the lawsuit hatefully claims that requiring people to purchase or provide health insurance that allows free access to PrEP “encourages and facilitates homosexual behavior, drug use, or sexual activity outside of marriage.”
Mitchell is the most well-known person outside of his suit. for crafting Texas’sThis dangerous law allows private citizens the right to sue anyone who aids in an abortion for a pregnant woman for $10,000. That bill was the topic of the first of two casesThe Supreme Court accepted the case, which ultimately led to the repeal of decades-old federal protections against abortion. Roe in the Court’s most recent session.
If Mitchell is successful in the suit, it could severely limit peoples’ access to PrEP, potentially allowing for companiesTo raise copays on the medication about 99 percent effectiveIn preventing a person getting HIV via intercourse. A Texas district court judge, notoriously anti-ACA Judge Reed O’Connor, is set to hear arguments for the suit on Tuesday.
This could slow down progress against HIV. is mostly prevalent in the U.S. amongBisexual and gay men. HIV incidence has been relatively stable in recent decades, but before the drug was added to the ACA’s mandated free drug list last year, many people couldn’t afford to take it due to the cost — Truvada and Descovy, two PrEP drugs, both cost nearly $2,000One month out of pocket
Mitchell also arguesThat the government officials who decide the list of drugsPatients can access the ACA for free. too much powerThey were not nominated by Senate. (The vast majority of federal government officials aren’t confirmed by the Senate, and government watchdogs say that requiring more positions to be Senate-confirmed would make the government less effective.)
Though Mitchell only asks for the judge to consider delisting PrEP from the list, he specifically names medications like birth control — which Mitchell and anti-abortionists falsely claim are abortifacients — as medications that regulators “force” insurers to cover at no cost to the patient. This could open these medications up to further lawsuits.
PrEP Access is under attack by the right. This is a sign of how deep they are in their ranks. is committed toIt is creating a platform that is both ideologically as well as systematically anti-LGBTQ.
Such moves hearken back toThe 1980s were marked by anti-gay campaigns. President Ronald Reagan was one of these figures. enabled HIV to spread freelyGay and bisexual men are also included. the right wingSpread anti-gay propaganda. There were few HIV/AIDS treatments available back then. hundreds of thousandsIn the United States, AIDS claimed the lives of over 200,000 people. Many LGBTQ individuals lived with the disease. terror and griefOver the attack on their community.
The stage is being set by the far right today. institutionalize anti-LGBTQ sentimentAcross the country, they adopted anti-LGBTQ ideology in their party platforms. some extremist figuresMany are calling for the murder of gay people. Far-right lawmakers are still in power. have introducedThere are bills that would marginalize or endanger LGBTQ people in all realms, including a Texas bill that would permit medical providers to refuse to treat patients based upon their religious anti-LGBTQ beliefs.
