AMERIKA

I visited an anti-abortion pregnancy center. Here’s why experts call for more regulations.

Alexandria Jacobson, Investigative Reporter
December 23, 2024 

RAW STORY

A sonographer technician holds an ultrasound transducer to diagnose the condition of a pregnant woman with a view of the woman's uterus on the computer screen. (Shutterstock)


CHICAGO — The Aid for Women pregnancy clinic in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood might be one of the nicest offices I’ve visited for medical advice.

The clinic is located in the storefront of a newly constructed modern apartment building. Its windows are adorned with images of beautiful, diverse women, advertising free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. With tasteful neutral tones throughout, the lobby has a cascading wall fountain with the nonprofit’s logo and a woman’s silhouette image, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Yet, the clinic is not a medical office even though medical procedures and tests are offered there. Aid for Women is one of as many as 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, operating throughout the country that present as healthcare clinics but are typically nonprofits with an agenda to stop women from getting abortions.


Aid for Women pregnancy center in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood in December 2024 (Photo by Alexandria Jacobson/Raw Story)

A new study from the University of California San Diego published on Dec. 2 analyzed the websites of 1,825 crisis pregnancy clinics, including Aid for Women, and created a database, choicewatch.org, to provide unbiased data about the services provided by these groups.

“We just want to start a policy debate around these issues,” John W. Ayers, leader of the study, told Raw Story. “With the new administration, there's a chance CPCs could be federally funded, and if those federally funded dollars are going to CPCs, under what conditions can they be given to maximize society benefits and reduce the harms?”


ALSO READ: Why ABC settled a case they knew they would win — and why the Lincoln Project didn't


Ultimately, the paper’s authors are calling for greater scrutiny of these clinics, particularly around the services offered, provider qualifications and conformity with regulations and medical best practices. Generally, such pregnancy centers are exempt from the licensing, regulations and credentialing requirements of healthcare facilities.

“When it comes to crisis pregnancy centers, there's a lot of unknown unknowns,” said Ayers, who is an adjunct associate professor of medicine and epidemiologist at the University of California San Diego. “Our study is independent of your position on abortion, and so, we just want to give data and solve this problem of there being no data.”


Doctors like Kristyn Brandi, an OB-GYN in New Jersey, often find crisis pregnancy centers to be “angering” and “annoying," requiring reeducation of patients after visiting a clinic, she said.

The clinics can also be dangerous to women’s health if unsafe and unproven procedures like “abortion pill reversals” are offered (Aid for Women advertises such a procedure on its website). Ayers and Brandi both pointed out that abortion pill reversals are not recommended by medical professionals and put patients at risk for hemorrhaging and sepsis as they involve pumping the body with progesterone after a first abortion pill is taken, even though the process of ending the pregnancy is likely already underway and no longer likely to be viable.



A screen shot from the Aid for Women website about abortion pill reversals


“At crisis pregnancy centers, they are not healthcare centers, and so they aren’t under the same regulations and rules that doctors and other healthcare providers have to abide by, which is really concerning as a healthcare provider knowing that I have many patients that go there first and then come to me for healthcare,” Brandi told Raw Story. “Hearing the stories about what these patients encounter when they go to these centers is really disturbing.”

Susan Barrett, executive director of Aid for Women, did not respond to Raw Story’s requests for comment.
‘Very weird and off’


When I first visited an Aid for Women clinic, I was just shy of five weeks pregnant. Several at-home early detection pregnancy tests came up positive, but I figured it didn’t hurt to have professionals confirm for me as I waited for my regular OB-GYN appointment at 10 weeks pregnant.

But rather than having a doctor or nurse confirm the pregnancy for me, I conducted the test myself at Aid for Women.

Instead of leaving a urine sample behind a mini door in the bathroom for technicians to grab as I was used to at doctor’s offices, I brought my sample back to a meeting room with an advocate and was told that I would be administering my own pregnancy test since there wasn’t a nurse on site at the time to do so.


I used a dropper to apply a sample to my test and had to write down that, yes, I understood my test was positive.

Brandi said typically patients at a medical practice are “not running their own samples” due to regulations requiring that collection and testing is accurate and a “real result” is being reported.

“It's weird for going to a healthcare center and having to do the stuff you would just do at home,” she said when told about my experience.


At the appointment, I spoke with an advocate about my “pregnancy intention,” a question also asked on an intake form where clients indicate whether they’re planning on parenting, abortion, adoption or are undecided.

The advocate made it clear that the center does not offer abortions but did not explicitly express disapproval for those seeking abortions.

However, the 20-plus-page informational booklet provided to me featured several pages on the risks and drawbacks of abortions, alongside photos of depressed-looking women.



Scan of pages in Aid for Women brochure about abortion

Raw Story shared the pamphlet with Brandi, an abortion provider, who said she was “struck” by the language in the brochure and found it to be “very focused on misleading information” and “very graphic depictions” of procedures like a dilation and evacuation surgical abortion, also known as a D&E.

“It was very much leading with all the risks, which I will not say that there are no risks to abortion care, but the risks are incredibly low and much lower than things like live births and C-sections,” Brandi said. “I make sure that when I counsel patients, I do absolutely tell them the risks, but I make sure to balance that information with all the benefits if they seek abortion, what are the health benefits to them versus continuing the pregnancy … there wouldn't be a field of OB-GYN, if pregnancy was always safe.”

Brandi also took issue with other components of the Aid for Women brochure, calling some parts “just very weird and off.”


For instance, the brochure’s timeline of the pregnancy does not reflect the “medically accurate” dating method, she said, and milestones noted such as the beginning development of a baby’s brain, spinal cord and heart at four weeks is misleading, she said.

“Usually at that time we have maybe three or four cells that are cardiac cells that eventually will turn into a heart in some time,” Brandi said. “It's not inaccurate, but it's misleading to say that those things are developed yet when they're definitely not developed in a significant way.”



Scan of pages in Aid for Women brochure about fetal development

Brandi noted that as an abortion provider, she looks at fetal tissue after a procedure, which typically isn’t seen until about 10 weeks pregnant, and it’s not visible to the naked eye at that point. The brochure said “a little face, fingers and toes” appear as early as six weeks and included images.

A first ultrasound experience

After my first visit, I decided to return to the clinic for another free service offered: an ultrasound. I didn’t have to pay hundreds of dollars or use insurance, so I decided to get an early sneak peek before my regular 10-week appointment.

I brought my husband with me to the clinic when I was just shy of eight weeks pregnant, and we heard our baby’s heartbeat for the first time, which was an exciting, emotional moment. I can imagine hearing a heartbeat that early for an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy might evoke upsetting emotions instead.

A sonographer conducted the ultrasound to check for basic criteria of a viable pregnancy such as noting if a heartbeat was present and that the pregnancy was located in the uterus. She produced two ultrasound images that didn’t look like much yet — I’d say the image resembled a small shrimp-shaped blob.

At barely eight weeks, I had a long way to go until the baby had any chance at surviving outside of the uterus. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that premature births at 23 weeks have a 23 percent to 27 percent survival rate, which grows to 67 percent to 76 percent by 25 weeks of gestation and continues to go up from there.

I showed my ultrasound to one of my regular OB-GYN doctors, who accurately predicted the sonographer wanted to show me the heartbeat. Brandi reviewed the ultrasound and corresponding report, calling it “similar” to a typical report.

My report was signed off for review by an OB-GYN, Robert Lawler — something Brandi said is rare to find at crisis pregnancy centers.

Lawler was featured in a 2013 article by the Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, about a new OB-GYN practice he opened in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Ill., to conform to the teachings of the church.

“I had visions of meeting the Lord at Judgment Day and him saying to me, 'OK, Robert, what part of 'intrinsically evil' did you not understand about contraception?'" Lawler said in the article.

The practice seems to have since closed as it has both an inactive phone number and web domain. A handful of negative Yelp reviews for the practice complain about lack of transparency about Lawler’s religious influence on his practice.

“He lets his personal religious beliefs undermine the health and well-being of the victims he lures into his office,” wrote one reviewer in March 2018.

Lawler appeared on an episode of the “Family Talk” show by Evangelical Christian author and psychologist James Dobson, where he discussed his opposition to a 2017 Illinois abortion bill that “forces pro-life doctors and nurses to violate their consciences and advocate for the murder of babies in the womb,” according to the video description.

As of January 2024, Lawler is now the medical director for labor and delivery at OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, a healthcare system in Illinois founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Lawler could not be reached at his OSF office in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Ill. He did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment through Aid for Women.
‘Lying to women in vulnerable positions? Let's cut that out.’

For comparison I also visited a Planned Parenthood clinic a mile away from Aid for Women to confirm my pregnancy there as well.

The Planned Parenthood clinic was certainly not as stylish and welcoming as the Aid for Women office. It was located in a small strip mall next to a Dollar General. The waiting room was dark, and front office staff were seated behind plexiglass.

But the experience reflected that of a typical doctor’s office visit, where I entered a room with an exam chair (I was brought to a room that resembled a personal office with a desk, chair, side tables and sink at Aid for Women).

I answered some medical questions at Planned Parenthood and got my test result through a MyChart portal. I was given some informational materials that included statistics and risks of different procedures, and I was told that if I proceeded with the pregnancy to start taking a prenatal vitamin.



Scan from "Abortion Options" brochure from Planned Parenthood



I chose not to go through the ultrasound experience at Planned Parenthood because I didn’t want to prematurely use my insurance benefits before visiting my regular doctor.

Planned Parenthood clinics are regulated as healthcare facilities and must abide by regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect patient privacy.

When I went to Aid for Women, I asked about HIPAA and was told my information would be protected. I was given a "care and competence" commitment agreement that promised to hold client information in "strict and absolute confidence;" however, there was no mention of HIPAA on the form, and the Aid for Women privacy policy does not mention HIPAA.

"One thing that really worries me, especially in this Dobbs moment, is privacy," Brandi said, referencing Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned the right to abortion protected by Roe v. Wade. "I think many people when they go to a healthcare center, they expect that the healthcare providers are not going to like share their information and talk about them to other people because we abide by rules like HIPAA that protect patients’ privacy. Because these centers aren't health care centers — they look like health care centers — but they have no reason to protect your privacy."

Spokespeople for Planned Parenthood did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.



A Planned Parenthood clinic in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood 

(Photo by Alexandria Jacobson/Raw Story)

The intake form I filled out during my visits at Aid for Women had me initial that I understood all questions on the form were optional, but when I didn’t fill in some information, such as my address, I got pushback from staff to include those details.

“I think when people are pretending to be doctors and have no legal liability if something bad happens, that's really concerning and scary to think about, that patients are trusting these centers when they don't necessarily get the health care that they deserve in these moments,” Brandi told Raw Story.

I returned to the Aid for Women Clinic months later at 37 weeks pregnant to learn about what support services the center offered. When I requested my medical records, I was required to give my address and was given a two-page report from my ultrasound, nothing else from the first visit or any other paperwork.

At this visit, like all my previous visits, the advocate asked me about my housing situation and made sure I had support and wasn’t experiencing any abuse. The nonprofit runs maternity homes and offers referrals for healthcare and community support resources.

I signed up to watch videos from the clinic’s "Earn While Your Learn" program to prepare for my impending labor and delivery experience. Clients who complete various tasks such as watching lessons and doing homework, participating in the nonprofit's newsletters and reviewing the center online can earn points to enter a monthly raffle to win essential baby supplies like a stroller or a crib set. The videos were produced by a group called True to Life Productions, who did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Aid for Women’s nonprofit tax filing is transparent that it’s a pro-life organization, describing itself as an operator of “pregnancy help centers, pregnancy medical clinics and residential programs to assist women in difficult and unexpected pregnancy situations so that they might choose life.” The nonprofit reported more than $2.5 million in contributions in 2023 and paid Barrett a salary of $101,519.

According to the data provided on choicewatch.org, Aid for Women is affiliated with Heartbeat International, an international pro-life group that supports the largest network of crisis pregnancy centers.



A screen shot about Aid for Women from choicewatch.org

While I visited Aid for Women knowing what type of facility it was, clients in crisis might not be aware of its pro-life mission and could be susceptible to misinformation.

“I think what our study does is it shows some of these crisis centers are bad actors, and CPCs can get behind getting rid of them," Ayers said. "Pro-life, pro-choice, lying to women in vulnerable positions? Let's cut that out."

The Fight for Transgender Rights Is a Class Struggle Fight for Equality

By CJ Polychroniou

December 23, 2024

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.





President-elect Donald Trump said at a conference for young conservatives in Arizona this past Sunday that the official policy of his upcoming administration would be the recognition that there are only two genders, male and female, and pledged to stop “transgender lunacy” from day one of his presidency.

Transgender issues have become a hot topic in U.S. politics, with Democrats and Republicans adopting opposing policies on matters such as health care provision and the types of books allowed in public schools and libraries. Republicans have been pushing against LGBTQ rights for many years now, and Republican-led state legislatures have passed legislation restricting medical care to transgender youth. As such, there is little doubt that the incoming Trump administration will seek to make true on its promise to punish transgender people and the LGBTQ community in general.

There are an estimated 1.6 million transgender people in the United States, facing severe discrimination and constant denial of their fundamental rights and, in many cases, even rejection by their own families. Their only crime is that they do not conform to societal expectations of gender identity, meaning that they do not fit the confines of male and female binaries. Yet, transgender people have existed for as long as humans have been around. There is ample documentation of transgender people from ancient Mesopotamia to the Greek and Roman empires. Indeed, the ancient Greeks did not have the same concepts of gender and sexuality that eventually became crystalized in the modern western world, from around the start of the 16 th century. In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus, the god of hermaphrodites and effeminates, was partly male, partly female.


Records from U.S. hospitals and clinics of trans kids seeking medical care date back to the early 20th century. Therefore, arguments denying transgender realities are simply outrageous while policies restricting the rights of transgender people (such as receiving basic health care, education, and legal recognition) should be treated as nothing short of conscious attempts to cause direct harm to individuals identifying themselves as transgender and assessed as nothing less than criminal.

There are many reasons why people wish to deny transgender realities and why so many states want to limit transgender rights, ranging from cultural and religious reasons to psychological ones. Transphobia however is also a product of a particular type of society, one built around class divisions where maximization of profit and the reproduction of labor-power are essential features. In class divided societies, gender stereotypes and thus sexual dimorphism go hand in hand with the desire to maintain the existing status quo and the specific form of labor relations built into such systems. Indeed, under capitalism, beliefs and assumptions about biological essentialism and gender binarism are convenient ways to keep reproducing a mode of production and a social order in which people need to be divided and boxed into neat categories. Transness disrupts capitalist social relations as masculinity and femininity are built into the economy as a binary relation. In this context, transphobia kicks in to enforce the division of labor bysex/gender as roles in the workforce in capitalist societies have mainly defined and formed our gender.

Under capitalism, transgender people are affected by the same structures that oppress the working class. Aside from the treatment of transgender people by the private healthcare industry, whereby discrimination is quite prevalent, some 75% of trans people also report employment discrimination while their level of unemployment is double the natural average. Transgender workers tend to have much lower income than the general population and are twice as likely to be living in poverty.

Transgender rights are therefore a working-class issue and “the fight for trans equality must be recognized as class struggle.” Of course, this is not to deny the fact that there are very rich queer people inside the system that do what capitalists basically do, which is to exploit other people. There is even a proportion of the capitalist class that supports transness and LGBTQ people, butwe should bear in mind that the relationship between capitalism and oppression has always been dynamic and contradictory rather than mechanical and linear. That said, working class politics must embrace trans rights as the fight for trans rights, women’s rights and LGBTQ rights are not separate from the fight of the working class. A working-class program must address the needs and wants of trans people as most of them are indeed disproportionally poor and working-class. Unions, for instance, should follow the example of United Steelworkers who got rid of exclusions of gender-affirming healthcare. Unions should mobilize their members to fight back against anti-trans legislation at every level. And we must not forget that most of our citizens are not on the side of Trump and the Republicans when it comes to transgender people. Polling shows that two-thirds of U.S. citizens oppose transphobic bills, even though more than half of the states have introduced pieces of legislation seeking to curb the rights of transgender people. Trumpism as a political strategy has always been about polarization, division, and bigotry. The fight against the upcoming administration requires class solidarity among all oppressed and marginalized group in U.S. society. The fight for transgender rights is a fight whose outcome will undoubtedly prove pivotal in the overall struggle to resist Trump’s extreme agenda (which includes mass deportations) in the next four years, starting January 20, 2025. At the conservative conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump simple reiterated his plans to pass a federal ban on gender-affirming care for youth and to redefine gender at the federal level whereby the recognized genders are as assigned at birth. These policies would be an extension of what took place during the first four years of Trump in office, a relentless onslaught of attacks toward queer people. And Trump has already announced a host of extreme anti-trans appointees to key administration positions, which include former professional wrestling executive and anti-transgender advocate Linda McMahon as education secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who opposes gender-affirming care, as secretary of health and human services, and white supremacist and anti-LGBQ Stephen Miller as White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

The challenges that lie ahead for progressive communities across the United States for the next four years are many and severe. The fight for trans rights will be a long, arduous one, but winning it will be a huge victory for equality. There should be no mistake about that, which is why it must be recognized as class struggle.


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CJ Polychroniou is a political scientist/political economist, author, and journalist who has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. Currently, his main research interests are in U.S. politics and the political economy of the United States, European economic integration, globalization, climate change and environmental economics, and the deconstruction of neoliberalism’s politico-economic project. He has published scores of books and over one thousand articles which have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, newspapers and popular news websites. His latest books are Optimism Over Despair: Noam Chomsky On Capitalism, Empire, and Social Change (2017); Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet (with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin as primary authors, 2020); The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2021); and Economics and the Left: Interviews with Progressive Economists (2021).

UNITED NATIONS

The struggle of trans and gender-diverse persons

Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity


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Issues in focusLGBTI and Gender-Diverse Persons in Forced Displacement
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Definitions

Gender identity refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.1 The term "gender-diverse" is used to refer to persons whose gender identity, including their gender expression, is at odds with what is perceived as being the gender norm in a particular context at a particular point in time, including those who do not place themselves in the male/female binary; the more specific term "trans" is used to describe persons who identify with a different sex than the one assigned to them at birth.
A spiral of exclusion and marginalisation

Gender-diverse and trans people around the world are subjected to levels of violence and discrimination that offend the human conscience:they are caught in a spiral of exclusion and marginalisation: often bullied at school, rejected by their family, pushed out onto the streets, and denied access to employment;
when they are persons of colour, belong to ethnic minorities or are migrants, living with HIV, or sex workers, they are particularly at risk of violence, including of killing, beatings, mutilation, rape and other forms of abuse and maltreatment; and
in order to practice their right to recognition before the law, gender-diverse and trans persons are often victim to violence in health-care settings such as forced psychiatric evaluations, unwanted surgeries, sterilization or other coercive medical procedures, often justified by discriminatory medical classifications.

Trans persons are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations when their name and sex details in official documents do not match their gender identity or expression. Today, however, the vast majority of trans and gender-diverse persons in the world do not have access to gender recognition by the State. That scenario creates a legal vacuum and a climate that tacitly fosters stigma and prejudice against them.

At the root of the acts of violence and discrimination lies the intent to punish based on preconceived notions of what the victim's gender identity should be, with a binary understanding of what constitutes a male and a female, or the masculine and the feminine. These acts are invariably the manifestation of deeply entrenched stigma and prejudice, irrational hatred and a form of gender-based violence, driven by an intention to punish those seen as defying gender norms.

A beacon of hope: depathologization of trans identities

For years, mental health diagnoses have been misused to pathologize identities and other diversities. In 2017, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health stated that reducing trans identities to diseases aggravated stigma and discrimination.

In 2019, the World Health Assembly adopted the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which removed trans-related categories from the chapter on mental and behavioural disorders. The revision depathologizes trans identities and is considered an important step forward to ensure trans persons can live free from violence and discrimination.

It is important to note that for a long time, pathologization has had a deep impact on public policy, legislation and jurisprudence, thus permeating in all realms of State action around the world and the collective conscience. Eradicating the conception of some forms of gender as a pathology from everyday life will be a longer process that will require further measures to that end.

States are advised to:review their medical classifications based on ICD-11;
adopt strong proactive measures, including education and sensitisation campaigns to eliminate the social stigma associated with gender diversity;
give access to good-quality health-care services and health-related information to trans persons and consider establishing the provision of gender-affirming care as a State obligation not dependent on a diagnosis; and
take strong measures to end so-called "conversion therapy", involuntary treatment, forced or otherwise involuntary psychiatric evaluations, forced or coerced surgery, sterilization and other coercive medical procedures imposed on trans and gender-diverse persons.

Read the statement by UN experts welcoming the revision and consult the updated International Classification of Diseases issued by the World Health Organization.
Legal gender recognition, still a distant dream for many

Self-determined gender is a cornerstone of a person's identity. The resulting obligation of States is to provide access to gender recognition in a manner consistent with the rights to freedom from discrimination, equal protection of the law, privacy, identity and freedom of expression.

The lack of access to gender recognition negates the identity of a person to such an extent that it provokes a fundamental rupture of State obligations. Denying someone the legal recognition of their gender negatively impacts all aspects of their life: their right to health, to housing, to access social security, to freedom of movement and residence; and it also fuels discrimination, violence and exclusion in social settings, including educational and work environments. When States recognize the gender identity of trans persons, they often impose abusive requirements, such as medical certification, surgery, treatment, sterilization or divorce.

The Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity has called on States to ensure legal gender recognition is available to all persons everywhere. The Independent Expert urged States to enact legislation and adopt public policy in line with the recommendations issued in 2015 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which indicates that the process of legal recognition of gender identity should:be based on self-determination by the applicant;
be a simple administrative process;
be accessible and, to the extent possible, cost-free;
not require applicants to fulfil abusive medical or legal requirements;
recognise non-binary identities (gender identities that are neither "man" nor "woman"); and
ensure that minors also have access to recognition of their gender identity.
Social inclusion

States have the power, the duty, to put an end to the ordeal faced by trans and gender-diverse persons and foster their inclusion. In addition to the recommendations mentioned above, States should:run sensitization campaigns to eliminate the social stigma associated with gender diversity;
adopt education policies addressing harmful social and cultural bias, misconceptions and prejudice;
address negative and/or stereotypical portrayals of trans and gender non-conforming persons in the media;
adopt measures to protect trans and gender-diverse children from all forms of discrimination and violence, including bullying;
review laws and policies that exacerbate police abuse and harassment, extortion and acts of violence against people based on gender identity (e.g. laws based on public decency, morals, health and security, including those on begging and loitering, and laws criminalizing conduct seen as "indecent" or "provocative");
adopt anti-discrimination legislation that includes gender identity among prohibited grounds;
enact hate crimes legislation that establishes transphobia as an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing; and legislation in relation to hate speech on the grounds of gender identity;
collect data to assess the type, prevalence, trends and patterns of violence and discrimination against trans and gender diverse persons and – on that basis - inform policies and legislative actions and address gaps in investigations, prosecution and the remedies provided; and
take affirmative action to redress structural discrimination and to remedy socioeconomic inequalities.
Thematic reports

Legal recognition of gender identity and depatologization (2018)

The Independent Expert's October 2018 report to the UN General Assembly examines the process of abandoning the classification of certain forms of gender as "pathologies". It clarifies the duty States have to respect, and promote respect of gender recognition as a component of identity. It also highlights some effective measures to ensure respect of gender identity and provides guidance to States on how to address violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

Socio-cultural and economic inclusion (2019)

The Independent Expert's October 2019 report to the UN General Assembly takes a look at social, cultural and economic inclusion of LGBT persons. Addressing their social and economic rights is key to addressing violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The report discusses the dynamics of inclusion and presents conclusions and recommendations for moving forward.
Statements

Promote tolerance and diversity, speak out against hate and bigotry (2019)

Ÿ Leave no LGBT person behind (2018)

Statement on the occasion of International Transgender Day of Visibility (2018)

Ÿ Embrace diversity and protect trans and gender diverse children and adolescents (2017)
Press releases

UN experts hail move to 'depathologise' trans identities (2019)

States must act to stop bullying of LGBT students (2019)

"Vicious cycle of hatred" against LGBT people being fuelled daily (2019)

Levels of violence against trans people "offend the human conscience" (2018)
Some communications specific to gender identity – allegations and States' repliesPakistan, Attacks on transgender rights defenders, 12 January 2021
Hungary, Proposed bill that would restrict children's identity to their sex assigned at birth and impose an upbringing that "reflects the values based on Hungary's constitutional identity and Christian culture", 15 December 2020 - Reply
Romania, Proposed bills that would prohibit any discussion on "gender theory or opinion" in educational establishments, 11 September 2020 – Replies 1 &2
Republic of Korea, Dismissal of the first openly trans soldier following surgery to affirm her gender identity, 29 July 2020 - Reply
Cambodia, Arrest and detention of an online clothes seller and a transgender woman, 1 May 2020 - Reply
Hungary, Proposed bill that would make it impossible for trans and gender diverse people to legally change their sex/gender, 14 April 2020
Egypt, Arrest and detention of a woman human rights defender and a trans man, 17 December 2019
Honduras, Killing and attempted murder of trans women human rights defenders, 7 October 2019 – Replies 1, 2, 3
Armenia, Death threats against a transgender rights defender following a speech at the National Assembly of Armenia, 18 April 2019 - Reply
Egypt, Arrest and detention of a transgender woman and LGBTIQ human rights defender, 20 March 2019
Honduras, Attempted murder, harassment, assaults and death threats, rape and intimidation and persecution against trans women's defender and LGBTI human rights defenders, 12 October 2018
United States of America, Death threats, acts of violence and intimidation, harassment, and discrimination against a human rights defender and transgender activist, 7 August 2018
Honduras, Killing of a trans woman and a gay man, 9 March 2018 - Reply
Indonesia, Arrests, detention and ill-treatment of twelve waria, or transgender women, in Aceh province, 12 February 2018 - Reply
Chile, Bill on the right to gender identity that includes discriminatory provisions perpetuating the stigmatisation and pathologization of trans people, 23 August 2017 - Reply
Honduras, Killing of a trans woman and LGBTI defender, 10 July 2017
El Salvador, Killing of three trans women, acts of intimidation and threats, including acts of extortion against a woman human rights defender, 26 May 2017 – Reply

Search all communications and States' replies in the database.

Read about the communication procedure on OHCHR webpage.

[1] The Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity (2006).

How Many Adults and Youth Identify as Transgender in the United States?

June 2022

Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, and advanced statistical modeling, this study estimates the population of adults and youth who identify as transgender nationally and in each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. It also provides estimates regarding gender, age, and race/ethnicity.

AUTHORSJody L. Herman
Senior Scholar of Public Policy
Andrew R. Flores
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Kathryn K. O’Neill
Policy Analyst
CONTACT US ABOUT THIS STUDY

Highlights

Nearly one in five people who identify as transgender are ages 13-17.

The percentage and number of adults who identify as transgender in the U.S. has remained steady over time.

Our estimate of the number of youth who identify as transgender has doubled from our previous estimate.

Data Points

1.6M
people ages 13+ identify as transgender in the U.S.


Visit the full Transgender People in the US data interactive


Executive Summary

Recent data from the CDC’s Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) provide an opportunity to update prior population estimates of the number of adults and youth who identify as transgender in the U.S.

 In 2016 and 2017, the Williams Institute used data from the 2014-15 BRFSS to estimate the number of adults (ages 18 and older) and youth (ages 13 to 17) who identify as transgender. 

Since then, a total of 43 states have used the BRFSS optional gender identity module for at least one year, providing more years of data from more states since these initial estimates.

 Additionally, in 2017, the YRBS, a national survey of high school students, began asking respondents if they are transgender. 

Since 2017, fifteen states have included this question in their YRBS statewide questionnaire. In this study, we use data from the 2017 and 2019 YRBS and the 2017- 2020 BRFSS to find that: 

Over 1.6 million adults (ages 18 and older) and youth (ages 13 to 17) identify as transgender in the United States, or 0.6% of those ages 13 and older.

Among U.S. adults, 0.5% (about 1.3 million adults) identify as transgender. Among youth ages 13 to 17 in the U.S., 1.4% (about 300,000 youth) identify as transgender.

Of the 1.3 million adults who identify as transgender, 38.5% (515,200) are transgender women, 35.9% (480,000) are transgender men, and 25.6% (341,800) reported they are gender nonconforming.

Research shows transgender individuals are younger on average than the U.S. population. We find that youth ages 13 to 17 are significantly more likely to identify as transgender (1.4%) than adults ages 65 or older (0.3%).

The racial/ethnic distribution of youth and adults who identify as transgender appears generally similar to the U.S. population, though our estimates mirror prior research that found transgender youth and adults are more likely to report being Latinx and less likely to report being White compared to the U.S. population.

Our estimates of the percent of residents in U.S. regions who identify as transgender range from 1.8% in the Northeast to 1.2% in the Midwest for youth ages 13 to 17, and range from 0.6% in the Northeast to 0.4% in the Midwest for adults.

At the state level, our estimates range from 3.0% of youth ages 13 to 17 identifying as transgender in New York to 0.6% in Wyoming. Our estimates for the percentage of adults who identify as transgender range from 0.9% in North Carolina to 0.2% in Missouri.

DOWNLOAD THE STUDY

Trans activists in Canada ‘appalled’ by new bus ads





Trans activists have condemned a new ad appearing on buses in one Canadian city that carries a message suggesting medical transitions is harmful to minors.

The ad has appeared on a number of buses in London, Ontario, with an illustration of children and the text reading: “Put the brakes on medical transitions for minors.”

It also points to a website which calls on concerned citizens to “take action” to “stop medical transition for minors”.

The ad was purchased by the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) – which is described as a grassroots Christian advocacy organisation – to appear on three buses in the London Transit Commission’s (LTC) fleet.

John Sikkema, ARPA’s director of law and policy, told CBC News that the ad intends to challenge the idea that “transitioning” wouldn’t cause harm.

Elliot Duvall, a transgender man who lives in London, told CBC News that the ad should not have been allowed: “It’s absolutely appalling to be honest with you. It’s also hard because every person, whether they’re a minor or not, should have health-care rights.”

Despite pushback from Duvall and complaints from others, the chair of the LTC, Stephanie Marentette, said the ads cannot be taken down because they adhere the LTC’s advertisement policy but that they do “not reflect the views and values” of the transit authority.

Related video: Why this trans advocate says new LTC bus ads spread misinformation (cbc.ca)

Marentette told CBC News: “Unless something is egregious or amounting to hate speech. that would trigger an exception. Unfortunately we don’t have the ability to arbitrate what types of ads go on the side of our buses.”

Gender-affirming care is endorsed by both the Canadian Psychological Association and the Canadian Pediatric Society.

This involves allowing kids to socially transition, but nothing medical is done before the onset of puberty.

Surgical options are not considered until kids reach the age of 18 in Canada, or in some rare cases when they are 16 or 17 but “only if they’ve already had ‘a significant duration of care'” according to CBC News.

Trump vows to ‘stop transgender lunacy’ as a top priority

THE ONLY LUNACY IS THOSE WHO HAVE FREAKED ABOUT THE TRANS MINORITY

By AFP
December 22, 2024

DID THEY DELIBERATELY MAKE HIS BACKGROUND 

TRANS FUSCIA 

US President-elect Donald Trump's speech at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest convention amounted to something of a victory lap - Copyright AFP

 Andrej ISAKOVIC,
Josh EDELSON,

 with Brian KNOWLTON in Washington

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” on day one of his presidency, as Republicans — set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House — continue their push against LGBTQ rights.

“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.

He also vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports,” adding that “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”

Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against “migrant crime,” vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring US control of the Panama Canal.

Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

Last week, when the US Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.

In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term — and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election.

“On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness,” Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.

– ‘Golden age’ –

“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III.”

He added: “The golden age of America is upon us.”

The president-elect has yet to explain publicly how he plans to bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine, or to bring peace to the Middle East.

But in the sort of bellicose language he sometimes used even against US allies in the past, Trump said Sunday that Panamanian authorities “haven’t treated us fairly” in their operation of the Panama Canal.

He had said earlier that fees for use of the canal — construction of which was begun by France and completed by the United States — are “ridiculous.”

And he added Sunday that if the principles behind the 1970s treaty that gave Panama full control of the canal are not followed, “then we will demand” that it be returned to the United States “in full, quickly and without question.”

Thousands of ships transit the key Central American waterway every year, making it critical to US and international commerce.

The president-elect, who regularly blames migrants from Latin America for America’s drug problems, renewed his vow to immediately begin “the largest deportation operation in American history” upon taking office, and later went further, saying he would “immediately designate the (drug) cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”

“This criminal network operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed,” Trump said.

During his first term in 2019, after the killing in Mexico of nine American citizens from a Mormon community, Trump vowed to apply the terrorist designation to Mexican cartels.

But he relented following a plea from then-Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Ken Paxton sues NCAA over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports

WHAT ABOUT TRANS IN MENS SPORTS?!

Berenice Garcia, Texas Tribune
December 23, 2024

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

"Ken Paxton sues NCAA over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women's competitions.


Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.


Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women's sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women's sports.

"The Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships," said NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick in a statement.


Paxton’s lawsuit comes just after NCAA President Charlie Baker was grilled by lawmakers during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. Baker later said he is only aware of “less than 10” transgender athletes among the more than 500,000 athletes in NCAA schools.

Many Republicans have eagerly taken up the fight against transgender women’s participation in sports as one of their top priorities in recent years, with many candidates highlighting their opposition in political ads that aired in the leadup to the November elections.

The attention on the issue prompted some Democratic candidates to declare they did not support trans athletes in women's sports. Following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, calls for the Democratic Party to distance itself from socially progressive issues like transgender rights has grown stronger.


As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, his administration withdrew a proposed rule that would have prevented schools from outright banning transgender athletes under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, though it would have allowed for some limits. U.S. Department of Education officials said the decision came after receiving tens of thousands of comments “with a broad spectrum of opinions” about the proposed policy change and amid several legal challenges.

Last year, Texas approved a law that bars transgender athletes from participating on college teams that match their gender identity.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.


This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/22/texas-ken-paxton-ncaa-transgender-college-athletes-women-sports/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org

Wsuathletics.comwsuathletics.com/news/2023/3/28/trans-male-fencer-bobbie-hirsch-is-making-history-at-wayne-state-university.aspx

Trans male fencer Bobbie Hirsch is 'making history' at Wayne State ...

Mar 28, 2023 ... Nineteen states have laws banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the ...

Aclu.orgwww.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/four-myths-about-trans-athletes-debunked

Four Myths About Trans Athletes, Debunked - ACLU

Apr 30, 2020 ... “For the past nine years,” explains Carroll, “transgender athletes have been able to compete on teams at NCAA member collegiates and ...

Genderjustice.uswww.genderjustice.us/get-the-facts-trans-equity-in-sports/

Get the Facts: Trans Equity in Sports - Gender Justice

When trans women compete in women's sports, there are no men competing. WOMEN HAVE FOUGHT SO HARD — AND ARE STILL FIGHTING — TO GET THE RECOGNITION THEY DESERVE ...

Snopes.comwww.snopes.com/fact-check/athletes-assigned-female-transitioned-mens-sports/

Are There No Athletes Assigned Female at Birth Who Transitioned ...

Jun 21, 2022 ... Chris Mosier, a triathlete and duathlete, who is also the first trans athlete to qualify to participate in Olympics trials in the gender in ...

China’s chance to step up, with the void on climate change that’s left by Trump

Published: 23 December 2024

EAF editors
The Australian National University

In Brief

A Chinese 'Green Marshall Plan' could facilitate the developing world's energy transition, stabilise China's domestic economy and rally support for the multilateral trading system. But for it to be successfully executed, it will need to be grounded in a multilateral endeavour with support from partners and financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

Achieving net zero carbon emissions globally was never going to be easy. It’s been made that much harder and more costly by US President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, ramp up US production of carbon fuels and cut American access to low-cost renewable goods and inputs to renewable energy production even further through imposts on foreign trade.

The task of cutting emissions requires reducing the carbon footprint in consumption (for example, via increased use of electric vehicles) as well as in inputs into production (via the sourcing of electricity, the processing of metals and materials manufacture).

Improving energy efficiency is a high priority in reducing the costs of decarbonisation and is best achieved through international trade in the whole range of consumer and producer goods and inputs (such as electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, processed lithium, iron and other minerals) that are necessary to achieve it. Using the strong complementarity in the new energy goods production and supply chains between China and other economies around the world is thus crucial to reducing the costs of the global energy transition.

The energy transition requires a massive transformation in production and consumption around the world over the next few decades. At the heart of that is the electrification of industrial economies with renewable power.

This industrial transformation will need vastly improved access to climate finance, ensuring both that existing funds are properly allocated and that they are utilised in a way that does not undermine climate goals. The global climate finance landscape is growing rapidly, with large amounts of financing now coming from China, but funding amounts are still insufficient to fulfil the Paris Agreement objectives.

There’s a huge gap estimated at US$5 trillion annually in both public and private sustainable financing over the coming decades.

Investment incentives need to align with climate goals. The efficacy of financial markets can be strengthened by harmonising sustainable finance taxonomies across jurisdictions and improving corporate disclosures and data sharing. China and the European Union have worked together on green finance definitions, publishing the Common Ground Taxonomy Table. Singapore has now signed on to an extension of this arrangement, the Multi-Jurisdiction Common Ground Taxonomy.

In this week’s lead article, noting the failure of COP29 to fill the public sustainable finance gap, Yiping Huang proposes that China initiate a Green Marshall Plan to step into the breach, elevating its contribution to investment in a zero carbon future and creating a facility for delivering its new energy technologies to the developing world.

‘China has emerged as an industry leader in the green energy sector over the past few decades, especially in the production of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, wind turbines and solar panels,’ Huang notes.

China is also an acknowledged leader in green development. Its vast supplies and low cost of green energy products are valuable resources for the world’s energy transition. ‘Just like the United States’ Marshall Plan after the Second World War, China can help green development in the Global South by providing both technological assistance and financial support’, he suggests.

The proposed Green Marshall Plan is designed to achieve two immediate goals.

The first is to facilitate the developing world’s energy transition, says Huang. While developed nations currently lack both the willingness and capability to lead global green development, China has advanced technology and vast production capacity that can help.

The second is to stabilise China’s domestic economy. The United States and European Union are raising barriers against Chinese green energy products entering their markets. This could exacerbate China’s domestic overcapacity problem and weaken economic growth if China does not find new markets for its green energy products.

A Chinese Green Marshall Plan initiative could be helpful on two counts: it would add to the pool of funds for green investment in the developing world; properly conceived and carefully executed, it would also help to push back against the intensification of American protectionism and additional costs it imposes upon energy transition, at least beyond those to the United States itself.

To succeed, in the latter purpose in particular however, it would have to be grounded in a multilateral endeavour with sign-on from other partners, like Europe, in its execution, and be facilitated with the help of multilateral financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

Funding under a program of the kind that Huang envisions would be a hybrid package consisting of commercial investment, policy lending and government aid. It would also have to be commercially viable — the increasingly low-cost green energy products produced by China make this a goal that is achievable. In addition to aid provided by governments, especially those of developed nations, national policy banks and multinational institutions would provide low-interest long-term lending to countries in the developing world. It would need to facilitate market-based investment to support the energy transition. All this requires a framework of international arrangements and agreed-upon standards that the multilateral institutions are best placed to facilitate.

A China-backed Green Marshall Plan could play a valuable role not only in supporting global green development and stabilising Chinese economic growth. It could also serve as a pillar around which to re-group the multilateral trade and investment regime.

The EAF Editorial Board is located in the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University.

COVID CHINA LAB DISINFO

What would it mean for the US to leave the World Health Organization?

Donald Trump speaks on the last day of Turning Point's four-day AmericaFest conference on Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix.

Matthew Kendrick
Dec 22, 2024
GZERO

President-elect Donald Trump’s advisors are reportedly urging him to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization on his first day in office, according to a report published Sunday in the Fnancial Times.

The US currently provides approximately 16% of the WHO’s funding, giving it outsized influence on the institution. Experts say a withdrawal would severely hamper the world’s ability to respond to public health crises like pandemics, and fight once-crippling diseases like polio and measles.

It’s not an empty threat. Trump actually initiated the process of leaving the WHO in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the organization of being controlled by China. He never followed through on the actual withdrawal, however, and Joe Biden re-established ties in 2021.

This time around, Trump has aligned himself with figures whose views on healthcare are well outside the scientific consensus. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vociferous opponent of vaccination, is tapped to lead Health and Human Services, while David Weldon, another anti-vaxxer from the fringe, is set to lead the Centers for Disease Control. Incoming Food and Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary has also questioned the benefits of certain vaccines, like hepatitis B and COVID boosters. With advisers like these, the WHO would be smart to start planning for a pullout, even if it doesn’t happen on Jan. 20.
Trending Stories

Beijing won’t butt in on this one, of course, since they stand to gain the most from US healthcare isolationism. If Trump was worried about Chinese control of the WHO back in 2020, pulling out in 2025 would all but guarantee that Beijing steps into the void.

ACTUAL SARS COVID VIRUS CODE RELEASED BY CHINA JANUARY 2019

‘Draconian’ Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears


By AFP
December 22, 2024

A new law will require social media users in Vietnam to verify their identities - Copyright AFP/File Nhac NGUYEN

Social media users in Vietnam on platforms including Facebook and TikTok will need to verify their identities as part of strict new internet regulations that critics say further undermine freedom of expression in the communist country.

The law, which comes into force on Christmas Day, will compel tech giants operating in Vietnam to store user data, provide it to authorities on request, and remove content the government regards as “illegal” within 24 hours.

Decree 147, as it is known, builds on a 2018 cybersecurity law that was sharply criticised by the United States, European Union and internet freedom advocates who said it mimics China’s repressive censorship of the internet.

Vietnam’s hardline administration generally moves swiftly to stamp out dissent and arrest critics, especially those who find an audience on social media.

In October, blogger Duong Van Thai — who had almost 120,000 followers on YouTube, where he regularly recorded livestreams critical of the government — was jailed for 12 years on charges of publishing anti-state information.

Months earlier, leading independent journalist Huy Duc, the author of one of the most popular blogs in Vietnam — which took aim at the government on issues including media control and corruption — was arrested.

His posts “violated interests of the state”, authorities said.

Critics say that decree 147 will also expose dissidents who post anonymously to the risk of arrest.

“Many people work quietly but effectively in advancing the universal values of human rights,” Ho Chi Minh City-based blogger and rights activist Nguyen Hoang Vi told AFP.

She warned that the new decree “may encourage self-censorship, where people avoid expressing dissenting views to protect their safety — ultimately harming the overall development of democratic values” in the country.

Le Quang Tu Do, of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), told state media that decree 147 would “regulate behaviour in order to maintain social order, national security, and national sovereignty in cyberspace”.



– Game over –



Aside from the ramifications for social media firms, the new laws also include curbs on gaming for under-18s, designed to prevent addiction.

Game publishers are expected to enforce a time limit of an hour per game session and not more than 180 minutes a day for all games.

Nguyen Minh Hieu, a 17-year-old high school student in Hanoi who admits he’s addicted to gaming, told AFP that the new restrictions would be “really tough” to follow — and to enforce.

Games are “designed to be addictive” he said. “We often spend hours and hours playing match after match.”

Just over half of Vietnam’s 100 million population regularly plays such games, says data research firm Newzoo.

A large proportion of the population is also on social media, with the MIC estimating the country has around 65 million Facebook users, 60 million on YouTube and 20 million on TikTok.

Under the new laws, these tech titans — along with all “foreign organisations, enterprises and individuals” — must verify users’ accounts via their phone numbers or Vietnamese identification numbers, and store that information alongside their full name and date of birth.

They should provide it on demand to the MIC or the powerful ministry of public security.

The decree also says that only verified accounts can livestream, impacting the exploding number of people earning a living through social commerce on sites such as TikTok.

Neither Facebook parent company Meta, YouTube owner Google, nor TikTok replied to requests for comment from AFP.

Human Rights Watch is calling on the government to repeal the “draconian” new decree, which the campaign group said threatens access to information and freedom of expression.

“Vietnam’s new Decree 147 and its other cybersecurity laws neither protect the public from any genuine security concerns nor respect fundamental human rights,” said Patricia Gossman, its associate Asia director.

“Because the Vietnamese police treat any criticism of the Communist Party of Vietnam as a national security matter, this decree will provide them with yet another tool to suppress dissent.”