Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Ban On Gender Care For Minors
The New York Times: Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Law Banning Gender Transition Care For Minors
A federal judge in Arkansas on Tuesday struck down the state’s law forbidding medical treatments for children and teenagers seeking gender transitions, blocking what had been the first in a wave of such measures championed by conservative lawmakers across the country. The case had been closely watched as an important test of whether bans or severe restrictions on transition care for minors, which have since been enacted by 19 other states, could withstand legal challenges being brought by activists and civil liberties groups. It is the first ruling to broadly block such a ban for an entire state, though judges have intervened to temporarily delay similar laws from going into effect. (Rojas and Cochrane, 6/20)
Also —
AP: Hospital Turns Over Transgender Patient Records To Tennessee Attorney General In Investigation
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has turned over medical records for transgender patients to the Tennessee attorney general’s team in what his office confirmed is an investigation into potential medical billing fraud. A Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson confirmed to The Tennessean on Tuesday that the hospital provided the records to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office. (6/20)
Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House To Vote On Transgender Student Athlete, Medical Care Bans
How Ohio's LGBTQ children experience life at school, what sports they play, and the kinds of medical care they can access would change if two pieces of Republican legislation expected to pass the House on Wednesday become law. Known as House Bills 8 and 68, these proposed laws would require schools to notify parents before sexual orientation or identity is discussed, immediately report students who question those identities, ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams in high school and college and prohibit doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery before age 18. (Staver, 6/20)
