More than two dozen bills targeting transgender health care have been introduced at the start of 2023 state legislative sessions, AP reports.
The big picture: The new bills come after 2022 saw a wave of anti-transgender legislation nationwide, with at least 34 states introducing more than 145 anti-trans bills.
- Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, uniformly recommend gender-affirming care but have faced legislative attacks and online threats.
Driving the news: Republican state lawmakers are focusing on gender-affirming health care, primarily targeting providers and the parents of trans youths.
- Eleven states — Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia — have proposed new legislation so far. Many of the bills look to criminalize helping a trans child obtain the care they’re seeking.
- Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma introduced a bill this week seeking to make it a felony for anyone under the age of 26 to access gender-confirming care.
- Meanwhile in Texas, at least a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in the first week of 2023, three of which seek to label providing gender-affirming care to minors a form of child abuse.
Of note: Anti-transgender campaigns resulted in the online harassment of 24 different hospitals and health care providers in 21 states over a recent four-month period, Axios’ Ina Fried reports.
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