Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has joined 19 other attorneys general in urging the American Medical Association (AMA) to better protect providers of reproductive and gender-affirming health care from potentially dangerous board certification requirements.

The coalition is calling on the AMA to recommend that medical specialty boards adopt policies that protect providers from being forced to travel to states that have criminalized abortion or gender-affirming care. In particular, the attorneys general criticized the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for requiring in-person testing in Texas, a state with some of the nation’s most restrictive laws.

“The American Medical Association needs to be clear-eyed about the serious threat that doctors face in certain states today. Connecticut has taken strong, proactive steps to protect our providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care from radical, out-of-state legal threats. Policies that force doctors to travel to these states undermine those protections and inflict needless risk,” said Attorney General Tong.

While the AMA has acknowledged these risks and encouraged alternative testing options, the coalition argues its stance lacks urgency and concrete guidance. The attorneys general are calling for remote testing, relocation of testing sites to supportive states, or exemptions for at-risk providers.

The move comes amid a wave of state laws restricting reproductive and gender-affirming care following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Tong and the coalition stress that safeguarding provider safety is crucial to maintaining access to essential health services in Connecticut and beyond.