The Republican-promoted bills seek to deny minors access to hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs. Both are treatments that have been tested and peer-reviewed by mainstream medical institutions, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images
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Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images
The Republican-promoted bills seek to deny minors access to hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs. Both are treatments that have been tested and peer-reviewed by mainstream medical institutions, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images
The recent wave of Republican-led bans aimed at preventing transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care could be politically fertile ground for conservatives in an election year. elections, but a new study shows that these bans are putting tens of thousands of vulnerable young people at risk.
ONE report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 54,000 transgender youth ages 13 to 17 are at risk of losing access to sex-affirming health care, even in the case of doctors, therapists, and health professionals. materials and parents concur with the need for such treatments. And in at least three states – Alabama, North Carolina and Oklahoma – lawmakers are pushing for legislation that could affect about 4,000 young adults ages 18 to 20.
The numbers are staggering considering that only about 150,000 young Americans identified as transgender.
According to the institute that tracks such legislation, as of Friday, a total of 15 states have enacted or are considering laws restricting access to sex-affirming care. That includes bills denying access to hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs, the latter of which are granted to transgender teens and teens to delay the onset of puberty. Both are treatments that have been tested and peer-reviewed by mainstream medical institutions.
“In each of these states, bills would criminalize health care providers who provide sex-determined care to minors or subject them to disciplinary action from a licensing board.” state,” the report stated.
About half of those bills seek to limit sex-affirmative care by prohibiting certain insurance providers from covering that care and by restricting how public funds and state facilities to provide this type of care.
Meanwhile, conservative leaders in six states hope to implement penalties for parents who facilitate access to sex-affirming medical care for minors. Ten states will also allow so-called bounty hunter lawsuits, in which private citizens can file civil lawsuits for damages against health care providers who violated the rules. proposed law.
The most extreme of those measures is Just passed by the House of Representatives of Idaho, voted to add anti-transgender language to existing legislation banning female genital mutilation. While Idaho Senate leaders have decided not to apply the bill, the measure would make it a felony to perform sex confirmation surgery on transgender youth, and for parents or any other It is illegal for anyone else to take a minor across the state line. for treatment of sex affirmation.
The study also notes a new tactic is being adopted in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott disrupted the law-making process by issuing an executive order. classifying sex-affirming care as child abuse. Abbot then called on state workers, teachers and doctors to report parents trying to find treatment for their children. He also threatened that there would be consequences for those who did not. The Williams Institute estimates that nearly 14,000 young adults in the state could be affected by the order.
The move is seen as a template for Missouri leaders, who are now looking to implement a similar solution that could affect about 1,500 transgender youths in the state.
All of these efforts go against the advice of medical organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Lead author of the study Kerith Conron, distinguished Blachford-Cooper scholar and director of research at the Williams Institute, said: “A growing body of research shows that gender-affirming care improves mental health and overall happiness of transgender people, including youth. One declare.
“Efforts to support transgender youth living according to their gender identity are associated with better mental health.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics found that transgender youth had a significantly higher rate of suicide attempts and harm yourself. Teenagers using puberty-blocking drugs have been found to have reduce risk suicidal thoughts.
