More than two dozen bills seeking to restrict transgender health care access have been introduced across 11 states — Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia — for the legislative sessions beginning in early 2023. Of the 35 anti-LGBTQ bills already introduced in Texas, three would classify providing gender-affirming care to minors as a form of child abuse, following a directive last year from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that ordered child welfare agents to open abuse investigations into parents who let their children receive gender-affirming care. Advertisement“It’s irresponsible for anybody in health care to provide or recommend life-altering surgeries that may later be regretted,” said the bill's sponsor, Republican state Rep. Jim Olsen. But the rising age minimums proposed to access gender-affirming care are among her chief concerns.

Source: Huffington Post January 08, 2023 11:43 UTC