The Alaska State Medical Board, which is wholly appointed by GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, today approved anti-abortion and anti-trans measures authored by a member who also happens to be one of the eight Republicans running for governor, ignoring concerns that they put politics over good medicine.
The Alaska Constitution’s privacy clause has been broadly and regularly interpreted to protect Alaskans’ health care decisions, including on abortion and gender-affirming care, but that hasn’t stopped conservatives like the Medical Board member and Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Matt Heilala from pushing restrictions on the board that oversees health care providers in Alaska.
Heilala, a podiatrist, spearheaded the effort to restrict minors’ access to gender-affirming care, as well as an official board message calling for changing the state’s laws on abortion access. Both were approved unanimously during the hearing, but not before a public testimony session that asked the board to rethink its actions.
“I’m willing to bet most people on the board have never met a trans kid, you’ve never met a trans person. You never talked to them about their real, lived experiences. Maybe I can enlighten a little bit; There are some of these young folks, they’re so brave, they’re so resilient,” said Josh Smith, a veteran and uncle of a trans teen. “I just want these young people to have access to everything I did … Nobody should be launching a governor campaign based off of trans kids or my family.”
Dr. Lindsey Banning, who said she’s a parent to a transgender child, warned that a blanket ban on care would harm kids and run contrary to the advice of major medical associations. Gender-affirming care can include puberty blockers and hormone treatment in some cases, but surgeries that conservatives say they are worried about are typically rare.
“It’s quite simply the standard of care for trans folks that’s accepted by all major medical organizations in this country,” Banning said. “Blocking access to this care has devastating consequences on the health and well-being of trans kids, dramatically raising rates of depression, anxiety and suicide.”
Several testifiers were highly critical of Heilala, who entered the race for governor earlier this summer, positioned as a right-wing conservative. As the former chair of the Medical Board, Heilala has pushed strongly for the body that regulates the licensing for the state’s medical professionals to be more involved in of-the-moment hot-button issues. One testifier ironically thanked him for stepping down from his position as board chair.
“I’m very thankful that the provider … Dr Heilala is stepping down, because I think that it has definitely been a platform for him to use to push some right-wing conservative agenda,” they said.
The vote doesn’t immediately enact restrictions on gender-affirming care, but it sets in motion new regulations that could be used to sanction health care providers who provide anything deemed as gender-affirming care to minors. The process of adopting the regulations will include another window for written public testimony, but the board didn’t commit to holding a second hearing on the measure.
The board did little to ease concerns about the application of the regulations, with Heilala conceding that enforcement may not be consistent.
“I think it does need to be pointed out, a regulation is an opportunity and a tool to be used at the discretion of the board,” he said. “It’s not an obligation to disciplinary sanction, but it is an option.”
Anti-abortion measure to boot
The board also voted 6-0 to approve a statement saying so-called “late-term abortions, up until the time of delivery” – a Republican bogeyman that isn’t really a thing – “does not embody the values of Alaskans” and encourages Alaskans to lobby legislators to change state abortion protections that are guaranteed by the Alaska Constitution into “alignment with community values.”
Here’s the full text:
“Alaska state law allows for elective late-term abortions, up until the time of delivery. The Alaska State Medical Board believes this is not ethical medical practice and does not embody the values of Alaskans. Many Alaskans and even physicians are unaware of this. We encourage Alaskans to engage with the representatives and to advocate for new legislation to bring state law into alignment with community values on this issue.”
Heilala defended the measure by arguing that the Alaska Constitution is “extremely permissive” when it comes to abortion. He also seemed to pat himself on the back for daring to bring up such a hot-topic issue, going as far as to raise the spectre of convicted serial killer Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia “abortion provider” who targeted poor and minority communities with ghastly practices and has been held up by conservatives as an example of abortion providers in the push to outlaw the procedure.
“Harm occurs when people are unwilling to speak about them because they’re too fearful it’s too hot a topic,” he said, “but, and you know, in this regard, in this one, a recent example is Dr. Gosnell in Philadelphia, and what had happened there.”
He was cut off by another member before he delved any further into Gosnell’s case.
While the regulations limiting access to gender-affirming care were the main draw of the testimony, a few said they were alarmed by the board adopting such a brazenly political statement on abortion. Several noted that the ghastly-sounding “late-term abortion” isn’t actually a thing in the way they describe it, and that their effort to restrict access to abortion interferes with critical care in life-threatening pregnancy complications.
Several said they were worried about the long-term state of health care in Alaska as long as such a nakedly political board is overseeing the industry.
“I guess I’m not quite sure that everyone here even cares about the evidence,” said Brian Griffith, an Alaskan pursuing a medical degree. “How could a trainee like myself want to come and work under a medical board that opposes the standard of care?”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
