Florida’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth will go into effect on March 16, according to a state notice.
The Board of Medicine restrictions will bar doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to treat new patients younger than 18 for gender dysphoria.
The ban on puberty blockers and hormones won’t apply to youth already being prescribed those medications prior to March 16. Current patients will be grandfathered in and allowed to continue with treatment.
The rule is at odds with existing treatment standards that have been endorsed by major medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society.
Doctors who violate the rule risk disciplinary action from the medical board, which can issue fines and revoke licenses.
After the ban begins, Gainesville nonprofit law firm Southern Legal Counsel plans to file a federal lawsuit challenging the restrictions, said Simone Chriss, director of the firm’s Transgender Rights Initiative.
It’s still unclear when the Board of Osteopathic Medicine’s rule — which mirrors the Board of Medicine’s — will take effect, Chriss added. New patients under the age of 18 will be able to start care with osteopathic physicians until the rule is in place.
Medical doctors vastly outnumber osteopathic physicians in Florida.
Spokespeople for the state Department of Health didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification Monday.
The medical boards began the rule-making process last August after the department urged them to do so. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024, has focused on restricting treatment for transgender people.
Bills that GOP state lawmakers filed Friday in the Florida House and Senate would go a step further by placing a prohibition in state law on doctors treating minors for gender dysphoria.
