(The Lion) — As federal courts try to block Donald Trump’s executive order to withhold federal funds from hospitals that provide so-called “gender affirming care,” Colorado is seeking to shield physicians who provide it.

SB25-129 seeks to shield anyone who provides “a legally protected healthcare activity, gender-affirming health-care services, or reproductive health care” from any legal actions taken against them, unless the matter would also be prosecutable under Colorado law.

The state has no restriction on abortion during any time of pregnancy and no ban on sex changes for minors.

The measure bars hospitals, attorneys and local law enforcement from cooperating with out-of-state lawsuits against Colorado medical providers and allows physicians to keep their names off of prescriptions for abortion medications.

States that ban abortion have already launched lawsuits against out-of-state doctors that have prescribed abortion medications for state residents.

The measure advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week by a partisan vote, with Republicans opposing it. Democrats hold strong majorities in the Colorado Legislature and the governorship, meaning the measure will likely pass.

But Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Republican and pastor from Colorado Springs, opposes the measure. He even proposed two bills to remove shields for providers of sex changes and so-called gender care. He says he was mocked in committee and called names for his proposals.

“They ridiculed me, called me names and said my bills were disgusting,” Bottoms told The Lion in an email. “These people work hard at covering up all pedophilic behaviors and treatments.”

Bottoms said the Democrats are intent on enacting their agenda and that the media keeps quiet about negative provisions in the bills, or the existence of counterproposals such as two of his bills, both of which were indefinitely postponed in committee.

“Our Democrats vote consistently to protect pedophiles, traffickers and buyers of children. This information is backed up by votes on bills,” he wrote. “We are trying to do everything we can to protect children here in Colorado and are blocked every step by the Democrats unanimously. We are trying to get the message out but the media is complicit in the hiding and coverup.”

Erin Lee – a Wellington, Colorado mom who pulled her 12-year-old daughter out of public school three years ago after realizing she had joined an ‘art club’ that was actually a group that was encouraging her to change her gender – testified against the shield bill in committee.

“This is a trafficking bill. It is intended to fortify the trafficking of children to this state for life altering medical procedures,” she told the committee via video testimony. “Virtually every other developed country, including Sweden and the UK, as well as 26 states, have stopped allowing the sterilization, chemical castration and mutilation of children’s otherwise perfectly healthy bodies, but you seek to enshrine it here. That’s the legacy you work for our state.”

Lee said that as many as 30% of people who transition end up detransitioning, and many live with lifelong regret. She also said she’s spoken to “hundreds of parents” whose children were medically transitioned behind their back.

“The single subject of this bill is the destruction of children,” she continued. “You prioritize the profits of Big Pharma and the medical industrial complex over the well-being and the health of children. That is what you stand for. That’s what this bill represents. You are encouraging more children to be trafficked here and to be destroyed.”

The matter is being read into the Senate record and could be considered as soon as this week. A companion measure, SB25-130, which seeks to shield hospital emergency departments that assist women undergoing an abortion or miscarriage, is being held over in committee.

Colorado passed a law two years ago banning treatments to reverse a chemical abortion. Lawyers from Becket, a religious liberty firm, sued and gained an injunction in federal court that has stopped the state from enforcing the law. Becket is still awaiting a decision regarding permanent relief, a representative told The Lion in an email Tuesday.