(LifeSiteNews) — A New Jersey healthcare system is asking the mothers of newborns to indicate whether they identify their baby as “transgender,” “lesbian or gay,” or “bisexual.”
New Jersey State Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-Bergen) shared to Facebook this month a picture of a “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” questionnaire issued by Inspira Health in New Jersey that asks mothers to indicate their baby’s “sex assigned at birth” in addition to the gender they identify their child as — which includes an option for “transgender” and “genderqueer.”
The form also asks mothers, “Which of the following best describes your baby?” and proceeds to list the options “Lesbian or gay,” “Straight or heterosexual,” and “Bisexual.”
Schepisi blasted the questionnaire as “completely and utterly insane” while pointing out that health facilities are issuing such forms to comply with the “nonsensical law A-4385,” which was passed by the state in 2022. This law requires that hospitals and laboratories collect data indicating race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender, “with no age threshold – hence newborn babies receiving the survey,” Schepisi noted.
New Jersey mothers have voiced shock and outrage over the absurd forms, which received a surge of publicity after Schepisi shared a picture of one to Facebook.
“That form is completely crazy, and anyone who would dictate a baby’s sexual orientation probably has an agenda,” Sandy Anello, 34, a mother of two in New Jersey, told the New York Post. “If I was told to fill this out, I’d rip it up in front of them. It feels like we’ve entered ‘The Twilight Zone.’”
“Identifying my baby as gay on day one is insane,” weighed in expectant mother Carsen Rodgers of Jersey City. “I had no idea about this form and I’m shocked.”
According to Schepisi, so many Inspira Health patients were upset about the forms that the healthcare system “had to seek a waiver from the State to discontinue using” it.
Schepisi announced in her March 5 social media post, “I will be sponsoring legislation immediately to rescind this absurd requirement which is a waste of medical professional’s time and resources.”
States across the U.S. are increasingly passing laws requiring official documents such as birth certificates and drivers’ licenses to include options to indicate a “gender” other than male or female. States that now include a third “gender” option for such documents include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Delaware.