Alaska AG Tregarrick Taylor pushes his agenda of government overreach on abortion

Alaska Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor says his support for forcing disclosure of private health information about women who get abortions in other states applies to some or all of the 49 states where he is not attorney general.

It doesn’t apply to Alaska now, says the general, who sees the world of law in Republican-tinted glasses.

Taylor is on the state payroll in Alaska, where there is a constitutional right to privacy and abortion is legal, though he would prefer that it be made illegal. He is opposed to abortion, as is his boss, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who wants Alaska to be the “most pro-life state in the country.”

Taylor is not on the payroll in those 49 other states. He claims to be fighting “federal overreach” on abortion by saying state governments can overreach—if that’s what they desire—and intrude into personal health care decisions.

Taylor presents himself as a detached overseer of all legal matters, but he had long been immersed in right-wing politics even before the Legislature ordained him as attorney general two years ago.

He contends that state governments have a right to examine private medical records and track abortions of their residents if they happen in other states—if that’s the policy approach the state selects—and that the federal government has no authority in the matter.

States that ban abortion should be able to cross state lines and prosecute women who get abortions in other states where abortion is legal, according to Taylor, who affixed his name to a chain letter circulated by the club of Republican attorneys general.

Taylor says we have to trust him that the Dunleavy administration won’t seek information about Alaskans or about anyone that might come to Alaska to get an abortion. This is all about other states, he claims.

“Taylor said he does not plan to seek information about Alaskans’ abortion care in other states, nor will Alaska provide information to other state agencies on individuals who come to Alaska for abortion care,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

“Some news organizations have bizarrely asked if the state plans to pursue information on these procedures in other states or seeks to provide this information to other states. The answer is an emphatic ‘No,’” Taylor complained in an email to the Daily News.

Come on general.

There is nothing bizarre about asking that question. You signed the letter. Perhaps you didn’t read it?

You want to allow state governments to choose to invade the health care privacy rights of individuals, claiming you are fighting “federal overreach” and protecting “states’ rights.”

Fourteen Alaska legislators wrote to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services rejecting the claims of the Alaska attorney general, though they did not mention his name, the Daily News reported Wednesday.

The headline on Matt Buxton’s piece in the Alaska Current explains all: “Alaska doesn’t plan on ratting out people who get abortions, but its AG supports other states that do.”

“The letter speaks for itself,” Taylor said in a written statement supplied to Buxton by the AG’s personal PR employee. “While this rule would have no effect on Alaska because abortions are legal, the rule seeks to thwart other states that have made a different policy decision on abortions post the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.”

No effect for now, he should have said.

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