The Center for Policing Equity Publishes Recommendations on Deprioritizing Enforcement of Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws

CPE urges municipal governments and law enforcement to deprioritize enforcing laws that threaten the health and safety of communities and focus efforts on crimes that affect public safety.

New Haven, Connecticut, Oct. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) announces the publication of Do Not Investigate: Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws. This new resource provides recommendations for deprioritizing the enforcement of state laws that divert limited police resources away from serious crimes and true public safety issues in pursuit of so-called “morality laws.” These laws also threaten the health, rights, and safety of community members. CPE urges municipal governments and law enforcement agencies to use no time or resources to enforce these so-called “morality laws.”

“We know that lack of access to medical care caused by recent state legislation is having severe consequences,” said Scarlet Neath, Policy Director at CPE. “For example, a recent report confirmed that Georgia’s abortion ban caused the heartbreaking and preventable deaths of two mothers, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. This much-needed resource shows how police departments and policymakers can take steps to ensure that the harms caused by these unjust laws do not extend to our public safety systems.”

The white paper reveals that police chiefs and municipal leaders seldom receive calls seeking enforcement of these laws, and, traditionally, law enforcement has stepped back in situations that call for the policing of people’s health care, pregnancy outcomes, and expression of gender identity. Criminalizing the most personal aspects of peoples’ lives would severely undermine recent municipal efforts to build trust between communities and law enforcement agencies.

Deprioritizing enforcement of these laws provides many public safety benefits, which can be achieved through the recommendations highlighted in Do Not Investigate: Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws and companion brief, including: 

• For Law Enforcement: 
  • Do not enforce anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ+, or anti-abortion laws. Prohibit the use of resources to enforce these laws. Direct officers to avoid any investigations or make arrests under such laws.
  • Amend policy manuals as needed to clarify that it is misconduct for police officers and civilian employees to discriminate against members of the public based on sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, pregnancy outcome, and receipt of abortion care or gender-affirming care.
• For Municipal Governments and Law Enforcement: 
  • Consult with affected communities on a structured and ongoing basis about how to deprioritize enforcement, including how vocal to be about deprioritization efforts.
  • Ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcome, and provision or receipt of reproductive health care, abortion care, and gender-affirming care (whether actual or perceived).
• For Municipal Governments: 
  • Direct law enforcement leadership to redirect funds that would be used to enforce anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ+, or anti-abortion laws, as has been done in several cities nationwide. 
  • Oppose any efforts to criminalize the use of municipal roads to access abortion care, gender-affirming care, or any other health care. 

Additional resources include a community toolkit and blog post. 

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The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) is a 501c3 non-profit that uses data science to
empower vulnerable communities—particularly Black communities—to partner with leaders on redesigning public safety systems that facilitate bold, innovative, and lasting change.

CONTACT: Juliet Pierre-Antoine
Center for Policing Equity
comms@policingequity.org