Senate Bill 16 will ban transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care in Utah. Governor Spencer Cox (R) signed SB16 into law the day after the Legislature sent it to his desk.
The bill not only “prohibits surgery for all transgender youth and disallows hormone treatment for transgender minors who have not been professionally diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” but also “requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of the medical evidence of the efficacy of hormonal treatments for transgender patients,” Causes.com reported.
Cox said it’s important to postpone “these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”
Other states including Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, are all considering legislation that will restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth.
While many believe the bill was a priority for the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature, which was sponsored by Utah Sen. Mike Kennedy (R), a family doctor, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association were critical of the bill saying it undermines access to health care.
“[The] grave violations of people’s constitutional rights [that] it will cause,” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.
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