Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Wave Of State-Level Bills Restricting Medical Care For Transgender Teens Reignites Polarizing Debate On Issue
The Washington Post: Republican State Lawmakers Push Bills To Restrict Medical Treatments For Transgender Youths
Republican state lawmakers have filed a wave of bills that would ban medical professionals from treating transgender teens with hormones and sex reassignment surgery, reigniting a polarizing national debate over the rights of transgender youths and the government’s reach into doctors’ offices. More than half a dozen statehouses are considering bills that would penalize medical professionals — and, in at least one case, parents — who give young people access to puberty-blocking medicines and other treatments. (Wax-Thibodeaux and Schmidt, 1/22)
The Washington Post: South Dakota Bill Restricting Medical Treatment For Transgender Youth Passes First Major Vote
A proposal to ban doctors from prescribing hormones or performing sex-reassignment surgery for transgender youth in South Dakota cleared a committee vote on Wednesday, the first state to take action on a wave of bills that restrict medical interventions affecting young people’s gender expression. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for doctors to provide puberty blockers or other treatments affecting gender expression to children under the age of 16, carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. (Wax-Thibodeaux and Schmidt, 1/22)
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Legislature: Transgender Treatment Bill Advances To House Floor
Supporters told the committee that the medical practices described in the bill aren't based on objective science, while opponents, many of them doctors, warned that the bill could negatively affect transgender children in South Dakota and force doctors to decide between treating a patient and going to jail. Bill sponsor Rep. Fred Deutsch, and many of the bill's supporters, told the committee that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is based on a person's feelings rather than objective science. Bill supporters also referred repeatedly to the medical practices the bill would prohibit as "medical experiments." (Kaczke, 1/22)
CNN: Puberty Blockers Can Be 'Life-Saving' Drugs For Trans Teens, Study Shows
Transgender youth have a much greater risk of suicide, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, if they have access to a puberty blocker, their chances of suicide and mental health problems in the immediate term and down the road decline significantly, a new study finds. This year, at least six states are trying to restrict transgender kids from getting gender reassignment treatments. The study, the first of its kind to examine access to pubertal suppression and suicidality, was published Thursday in the medical journal Pediatrics. The research comes as a handful of states are considering placing restrictions on transgender health care. (Christensen, 1/23)
