Anti-Abortion Texas Lawmaker Wants PrEP Illegal Because It Fosters Gay Sex

Attorney Jonathan Mitchell the architect of a controversial Texas abortion law has already aimed at marriage equality, and now has set his sights on the HIV preventative drugs Truvada and Descovy.

According to The Dallas Morning News:

Mitchell now has set his sights on Descovy and Truvada, two medications that help prevent HIV transmission when taken as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, because those medications enable homosexual behavior, the suit states.

In the case Kelley v. the United States of America, filed in federal court in 2020, Mitchell represents several clients who object to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurance providers cover, among other things, preventive medications specifically for PrEP.

“The PrEP mandate forces religious employers to provide coverage for drugs that facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior, prostitution, sexual promiscuity, and intravenous drug use,” the lawsuit states. “It also compels religious employers and religious individuals who purchase health insurance to subsidize these behaviors as a condition of purchasing health insurance.”

Regarding the plaintiffs, the suit claims “neither they nor any of their family members are engaged in behavior that transmits HIV.”

Texas Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson, an anesthesiologist, introduced House Bill 1424, which would make it legal for medical providers to refuse care based on sincerely held moral or religious beliefs.

“If my husband or I got in a car accident and needed EMT care,” Cooper theorizes, “because there were no exceptions for emergencies or anything, the EMT could come out on a local ambulance, realize that we are a gay couple, and refuse — at that moment — to touch or transport my bleeding husband for care.”