Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ohio Senate Overrides Governor's Veto, Restricts Trans Care And Trans Athletes
USA Today: Ohio Senate Overrides Veto To Restrict Trans Health Care, Athletes
The Ohio Senate voted Wednesday to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of legislation that restricts medical care for transgender minors and blocks transgender girls from female sports. The bill prohibits doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery before patients turn 18 and requires mental health providers to get parental permission to diagnose and treat gender dysphoria. It also bans transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams in high school and college. (BeMiller, 1/24)
Missouri Independent: Bathroom Restrictions For Transgender Kids Added To Missouri ‘Parents Bill Of Rights’
Legislation seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. A House hearing on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting last week. Missourians haven’t had a chance to testify on bathroom restrictions in the Senate this year, a fact that irked Democrats as the committee’s chairman — Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester — briefly introduced the amendment. (Hanshaw, 1/24)
The Salt Lake Tribune: Fear Of Lawsuits Shifts Utah Lawmakers’ Approach To Transgender Bill
Expecting lawsuits over legislation to exclude transgender people from gender-specific spaces in Utah, the proposal’s sponsor in the Utah Senate substituted the House-approved bill on Wednesday to reduce where those restrictions would apply. After changing the legal definitions of “female” and “male” to exclude transgender people, the bill introduced by Morgan Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland would have barred them from entering sex-specific spaces, like restrooms and locker rooms, that affirm their gender identity. (Stern, 1/24)
Also —
The Conversation: Transgender Regret? Research Challenges Narratives About Gender-Affirming Surgeries
You’ll often hear lawmakers, activists and pundits argue that many transgender people regret their decision to have gender-affirming surgeries – a belief that’s been fueling a wave of legislation that restricts access to gender-affirming health care. Gender-affirming care can include surgical procedures such as facial reconstruction, chest or “top” surgery, and genital or “bottom” surgery. But in an article we recently published in JAMA Surgery, we challenge the notion that transgender people often regret gender-affirming surgeries. Evidence suggests that less than 1% of transgender people who undergo gender-affirming surgery report regret. That proportion is even more striking when compared to the fact that 14.4% of the broader population reports regret after similar surgeries. (Barbee, Hassan and Liang, 1/22)
Stat: CDC Studies Causes Of Transgender Women's Higher HIV Rates
Transgender women, in particular those belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic groups, have disproportionately high rates of HIV. Yet so far, no standardized surveillance system has collected data that could provide insight into the factors that put people at higher risk for contracting the virus. (Gaffney and Merelli, 1/25)
