Republican lawmakers in more than half the states are continuing a party-line push to restrict doctors and other medical providers from offering some gender-affirming health care to minors, even with parents’ consent.
In late January, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed legislation making the Beehive State the first this year to ban some medical interventions for patients under 18, including hormone therapy and gender-affirmation surgery. Adolescents who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria — a mismatch between their gender identity and sex assigned at birth — before the law took effect are grandfathered.
Arkansas and Tennessee passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors in 2021; Alabama and Florida also blocked such care last year. The bans in Alabama and Arkansas now are on hold as they’re tied up in the court system.
