Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Arkansas Makes It Easier To Sue Minors' Trans Care Providers
AP: Sanders Signs Arkansas Trans Care Malpractice Bill Into Law
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed legislation making it easier to sue providers of gender-affirming care for children, a move that could effectively reinstate a blocked ban on such care. Sanders on Monday signed the new law, which won’t take effect until this summer. It would allow anyone who received gender-affirming care as a minor to file a malpractice lawsuit against their doctor for up to 15 years after they turn 18. Under current Arkansas law, medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years of an injury. (DeMillo, 3/14)
AP: Georgia House Panel: Make Transgender-Care Doctors Liable
A Georgia House committee on Tuesday sought to make it easier to sue doctors, and possibly charge them criminally, if they violate a proposed law barring some kinds of gender-affirming care in the state for anyone younger than 18. The House Public Health Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to pass Senate Bill 140, with majority Republicans passing the measure. The bill, which advances to the full House for more debate, would ban most gender-confirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for people under 18. However, unlike laws adopted in some other states, it would still allow doctors to prescribe medicines to block puberty. (Amy, 3/14)
In other news about transgender health care —
AP: GOP Lawmakers Allow Conversion Therapy For LGBTQ Patients
Republicans who control the Wisconsin Assembly voted Tuesday to continue allowing therapists and others to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The discredited practice is known as conversion therapy, and Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have been trying to stop it from being banned. (3/14)
News Service of Florida: A Senate Committee Advances A Bill Restricting Gender-Affirming Care In Florida
Judges could consider parents’ objections to medical treatments such as puberty blockers when modifying or deciding custody agreements for children, under a measure approved Monday by a Senate committee. The bill (SB 254) also would make it a felony for doctors or other health care professionals to order puberty blockers, hormone treatment or surgery for minors. (Kam, 3/14)
AP: Former Kentucky Lawmaker Makes Plea On Gender-Affirming Care
For years, Jerry Miller was a fixture at legislative hearings in Kentucky, but this time was different: the Republican ex-lawmaker opened up about how his young grandchild could be hurt by a bill to ban access to gender-affirming medical care for those under 18. “This bill condemns vulnerable children to an even more difficult life than they’ve already been born into,” Miller told a Senate committee on Tuesday. “Please don’t let a parent’s right to protect their children be collateral damage in the culture wars.” Despite his emotional pleas, the transgender-related bill was approved by the GOP-led committee, sending it to the full Senate. (Schreiner, 3/14)
AP: Nebraska Lawmaker 3 Weeks Into Filibuster Over Trans Bill
Both state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh and the conservative Omaha lawmaker who introduced the trans bill, state Sen. Kathleen Kauth, said they’re seeking to protect children. Cavanaugh cited a 2021 survey by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth, that found that 58% of transgender and nonbinary youth in Nebraska seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and more than 1 in 5 reported that they had attempted it. “This is a bill that attacks trans children,” Cavanaugh said. “It is legislating hate. It is legislating meanness. The children of Nebraska deserve to have somebody stand up and fight for them.” (Beck, 3/14)
Also —
The New York Times: At Wellesley College, Students Vote To Admit Trans Men
Wellesley College proudly proclaims itself as a place for “women who will make a difference in the world.” It boasts a long line of celebrated alumnae, including Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Nora Ephron. On Tuesday, its students supported a referendum that had polarized the campus and went straight to the heart of Wellesley’s identity as a women’s college. The referendum, which was nonbinding, called for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants, including trans men. Currently, the college allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman. (Patel, 3/14)
Axios: California Nondiscrimination Law Linked To More Gender-Affirming Surgeries
A 2013 California law barring insurers from discriminating on the basis of a patient's sex or gender identity, was associated with an increase in gender-affirming surgeries in the state, as well as an expansion of sites and providers offering the care, new research in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows. (Dreher, 3/15)
