Elizabeth Warren calls for 'gender-affirming health care' for transgender Americans

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued a rallying cry for transgender Americans on Tuesday, calling for "access to high-quality, affordable, gender-affirming health care."

What are the details?

The Democrat from Massachusetts took to Twitter with the message, "Everyone should be able to access high-quality, affordable, gender-affirming health care. But the Trump administration is trying to roll back important protections for trans Americans. Help fight back by leaving a comment for HHS in protest."

The Washington Examiner reported that the Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed a rule change that would "remove gender identity as a basis for sex discrimination as a protection for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act." Warren's tweet included a link to an organization fighting back against the regulatory change.

In the past, Warren has taken heat from progressive activists for saying that she felt providing gender reassignment surgery for a prison inmate was not "a good use of taxpayer dollars." She has changed her tune since announcing her run for the White House, and a spokesperson for Warren told ThinkProgress earlier this year, "Senator Warren supports access to medically necessary services, including transition-related surgeries. This includes procedures taking place at the VA, in the military, or at correctional facilities."

Anything else?

Warren has been active in pursuing the votes in the transgender voting block, notably adding the pronouns "she/her" to her Twitter bio in an effort to appeal to progressives who argue that a person's gender should not be assumed.

PJ Media reported that Warren was called out for pandering to activists last month, when feminist Miriam Ben-Shalom — the first lesbian reinstated to the U.S. Army after being kicked out for being homosexual — wrote an open letter to the presidential candidate, saying in part:

With civility and no ill-will: Please. Stop with the pronoun silliness. We know you are a woman. Perhaps a million trans-humans will not elect you. But common sense women could. Instead of pandering to the trans lobby, may I respectfully request that you look at what women are losing in terms of sports, safety, medical services, parental rights, and basic human rights, such as the right to privacy, not to mention the horrors of medical experimentation on children by trans-supporting Big Pharma and Big Medicine.