Oklahoma is 16th state to outlaw puberty blockers and sex change surgery for children under 18

Oklahoma is the 16th Republican state to ban puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery for children under 18.

Republican Chief Executive Kevin Stitt signed into law Monday making it a criminal offense for health care workers to provide children with treatments, including puberty-suppressing drugs and hormones.

Gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the US for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations, but has come under increasing attack from many conservative legislators.

America is a global outlier when it comes to pediatric medical interventions. The UK and the Scandinavian countries are all stopping drugs for minors until doctors learn more about the drugs and the long-term risks of making irreversible changes to children’s bodies.

Oklahoma joins at least 15 other states with laws banning such care as conservatives across the country have focused on transgender rights.

Mr Stitt, who was re-elected in November, made the ban a priority of this year’s legislature and said he wanted to protect children. Transgender advocates and parents of transgender children say such care is essential.

Stitt signed into law bills last year that would ban transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams and prevent transgender children from using school restrooms that match their gender identity.

He said in a statement released after the signing: “Last year I called for a ban on all irreversible gender transition surgery and hormone therapies on minors, so I am delighted to sign this into law today and protect our children.

“We can’t close our eyes to what’s happening in our country, and as governor, I’m proud to stand for what’s right and ban life-changing transitional surgery on children in the state of Oklahoma.”

The bill Stitt signed into law on Monday makes it illegal to provide gender reassignment medical care to anyone under the age of 18. Such treatment may include surgery as well as hormones and medications that suppress or delay normal puberty.

Transgender advocates and parents of transgender children say such care is essential.

Several civil liberties organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, have pledged to “take all necessary legal action” to prevent the law from taking effect.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt gestures as he delivers his State of the State address in Oklahoma City on Monday, February 6, 2023

“Gender Affirmative Care is a critical component in helping transgender adolescents succeed, form healthy relationships with their friends and family, live authentically as themselves, and dream about their future,” Lambda Legal, the ACLU and the ACLU said in a statement. joint statement.

At least 16 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and West Virginia .

Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban healthcare.

Three states — Florida, Missouri and Texas — have banned or limited care through regulations or administrative orders, and Missouri’s is the only one to restrict adult treatments as well. A judge has blocked Missouri’s restrictions.

The governor of Texas has directed child welfare officials to investigate reports of children receiving such care as child abuse, though a judge has blocked those investigations.

Republican lawmakers across the country have passed hundreds of measures this year targeting nearly every facet of trans existence.

That includes bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors, restrictions on the types of restrooms transgender people can use, measures restricting classroom teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity, and bills that would eliminate transgender students who want teachers to address them with the pronouns. they use.

The Food and Drug Administration approved puberty blockers 30 years ago to treat children with precocious puberty — a condition that causes sexual development to begin much earlier than normal.

Sex hormones — synthetic forms of estrogen and testosterone — were approved decades ago to treat hormone disorders or as birth control pills.

The FDA has not specifically approved the drugs to treat young people who have questions about their gender, but they have been used “off-label” for that purpose for many years, a common and accepted practice for many medical conditions.

Doctors who treat transgender patients say those decades of use are proof that the treatments aren’t experimental.

Research has shown that transgender youth and adults can be prone to suicidal behavior when forced to live as the gender they were assigned at birth.

Proponents of the measure have expressed concern about children changing their minds.

Still, the evidence suggests that de-transition is not as common as opponents of transgender medical treatment for young people claim, though studies are few and they have their weaknesses.