For the legislative session starting in 2023, more than two dozen proposals aimed against transgender and gender-nonconforming health care have already been put up in 11 states. This is a result of an overall rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation at state legislatures around the US.
A wider trend: According to the Williams Institute, at least 15 states either passed laws restricting access to gender-affirming treatment or were considering doing so. A court ruling is pending on an Arkansas legislation that restricts gender-affirming treatment for minors and an Arizona law that outlaws gender-affirming care for children under the age of 18.
What's new: While some states filed legislation in 2022 aimed at providing gender-affirming treatment for transgender and gender nonconforming children, several of the measures in the 2023 session also addressed the needs of LGBTQ individuals aged 21 to 26.
What's at risk: With the emergence of such discriminatory laws, children's hospitals with gender-affirming treatment initiatives have come under increased danger of violence and harassment. A 2022 Trevor Project Survey found that almost one in five transgender and gender nonconforming kids had contemplated suicide in the previous year. Several studies have connected gender-affirming treatment to decreases in despair and suicide among these children.
Which states will have restrictions on transgender medical treatment in 2023?
Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia are the 11 states that have sponsored legislation aimed at ensuring that transgender and gender nonconforming individuals have access to health care.
A measure in Oklahoma would prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment to transgender persons who are under the age of 26. Legislators in South Carolina, Kansas, and Oklahoma have already pre-filed restrictions on gender-affirming therapy for anybody under the age of 21.
Pre-filed legislation in Texas would consider prescribing hormone treatment and puberty blockers to children as child abuse.
The dangers of forbidding treatment that is gender affirming
Boston Children's Hospital and the Clinic for Transgender Health at Vanderbilt Medical Center are just two of the institutions around the nation that provide gender-affirming treatment to young transgender persons who have experienced online abuse and threats of violence in 2022.
According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, transgender persons who desired and got hormone therapy or surgical care had a much lower frequency of suicide ideations and attempts than those who wanted and did not get these treatments.
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