Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Arkansas Passes Ban On Gender-Affirming Medical Care For Transgender Kids
NBC News: Arkansas Passes Bill To Ban Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth
The Arkansas Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including reversible puberty blockers and hormones. The bill now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. Unless he vetoes it, Arkansas will become the first state to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. (Yurcaba, 3/29)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Transgender-Treatment Ban For Minors Is OK'd
Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, the Senate sponsor of HB1570, told his colleagues that "my heart goes out to those who suffer with gender dysphoria and to their parents" and that "it is not an easy thing to deal with." ... "This does not stop anyone at 18 from doing whatever they want to do, but it does prohibit children from making mistakes that they will have a very difficult time coming back from, although many do," Clark said. (Wickline, 3/30)
The Guardian: How Trans Children Became 'A Political Football' For The Republican Party
Republican lawmakers in more than 25 US states have advanced legislation banning transgender children from certain sports teams and limiting their access to gender-affirming healthcare. Trans youth represent just a fraction of the US population – recent estimates suggest they make up 0.7% to 2% of youth. But conservative lawmakers have introduced more than 80 bills regulating their lives in the first three months of 2021, the highest-ever number of anti-trans legislative proposals filed in a single year. (Levin, 3/23)
Stat: Researchers Turn To Health Records To Fill In Data Gaps For Trans Populations
Electronic health records are enabling a new generation of health care researchers to study thousands and millions of patients at a time. But scientists can’t easily tap into that promise for transgender and gender diverse populations — because in many cases, the records simply don’t reflect their identities. (Palmer, 3/30)
