There is ongoing conflict within the states on banning gender-affirming or transgender care. Multiple counties and states have enacted the ban, and West Virginia is currently joining in.
Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia has signed a bill into law that prohibits minors from receiving gender-affirming care. This makes West Virginia the latest state to restrict or ban medically supported treatments for transgender youth, joining at least 10 other states.
West Virginia Passes Law to Ban Gender-Affirming Care on Minors
According to the report in Associated Press News, the law prohibits individuals under 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy, and fully reversible puberty blockers and from receiving gender-affirming surgery. However, doctors say this is not currently happening in West Virginia.
A patient cannot be provided hormone therapy or puberty blockers until they have received parental approval and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two physicians, including a mental health professional or an expert in adolescent medicine. The law will go into effect in January 2024.
During the Senate floor discussions earlier this month, Republican Senator and physician Tom Takubo advocated including provisions allowing medical therapy for transgender youth at risk of self-harm or suicide.
These children struggle, according to Takubo, who cited more than a dozen peer-reviewed studies showing that youth who are suffering from severe gender dysphoria who had access to pharmaceutical therapy experienced less suicidal thoughts and attempts. His advocacy led to the inclusion of an exemption in West Virginia's newly signed bill that allows doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormone therapy to minors diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by two clinicians, including a mental health provider or an adolescent medicine specialist, and with parental consent.
Also Read: Doctors Speak Out: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions about Gender-Affirming Care
Gender Dysphoria among Teenagers is Real; Doctors Support Gender-Affirming Care
The article in Politico stated that gender dysphoria is a term used by medical professionals to describe severe psychological distress experienced by individuals whose gender identity is not as satisfactory to the assigned gender on brith. However, lawmakers in West Virginia and other states have recently moved to enact bans on transgender healthcare for minors, characterizing transgender treatments as a hoax or medically unproven, potentially dangerous in the long term, and a sign of "woke" culture.
Gender-affirming care for minors is supported by all significant medical organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. These organizations think that these therapies are beneficial and outweigh the dangers in order to improve the mental health and overall wellbeing of transgender children and young people.
West Virginia had the highest per capita number of transgender youth in the US, according to a 2017 report by UCLA Law's The Williams Institute, and the risk of suicide ideation among transgender youth in the state is three times higher than for all youth in the state.. ABC News shared that Natalie Frazier, who oversees gender-affirming care for Planned Parenthood in four states, including West Virginia, believes that the recently signed bill banning gender-affirming care for minors in West Virginia will create unnecessary barriers to care, particularly for families without resources, and argues that denying access to care will harm young people.
Related Article: Iowa Passes Controversial Bills Banning Gender-Affirming Care for Minors and Imposing Restrictions on Transgender Bathroom Use
