18 Percent of U.S. States Will Try to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in 2023
In the coming year, nine states will introduce legislation to block transgender youth from seeking gender-affirming care, The Hill reports.
The states include Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Over 20 bills have been introduced in these states in an attempt to block the life-saving medical care.
Many of the bills would prohibit medical providers from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender-affirming surgeries to minors under the age of 18.
Gender-affirming surgeries are typically not performed on minors. Medical professionals who provide gender-affirming care say that puberty blockers have been used for decades on trans children and children with certain cancers with neither harmful nor permanent side effects.
