Georgia’s politicians struck a balance a year ago when they banned the majority of gender-affirming surgeries and estrogen replacement therapies for trans people under the age of 18, but allowed physicians to continue prescribing puberty blockers and allowed adolescents to continue receiving hormone replacement therapies.
The Republican who led the previous year’s work, state senator Ben Watson, is now trying to tip the balance in the direction of a total ban. House Bill 1170, which may end exposure to hormones for those currently receiving treatment, was approved by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Monday, 8-5. The Senate will hear the legislation for a second discussion.
Georgia is one of at least 23 states that have passed laws limiting or outlawing gender-affirming health treatment for transgender minors, and the majority of those states are facing legal action.
A judge in Arkansas last year ruled the ban as unlawful, and judges have partially blocked the enforcement of prohibitions in Idaho and Montana. After an appeals court panel in September allowed Alabama’s prohibition, a federal prosecutor who had briefly blocked Georgia’s restrictions said the state could continue enforcing it.
More recently, the Kansas House on Tuesday debated a gender-affirming treatment restriction for adolescents that also includes menstruation filters. It anticipates a final vote to occur Monday. The Democratic Governor has the right to veto the act, but it is expected to pass. Laura Kelly
Doctor Watson claimed last year that allowing transgender minors to wait until age before making decisions they couldn’t change. However, Watson claimed on Monday that he rather wants people to go through puberty in the hopes that their gender dysphoria will disappear.
According to Watson, “I thought it appropriate to make it so that minors wouldn’t be using puberty blockers” in light of this.
However, critics claim that Watson is attempting to impose a gender identity on transgender minors and to undermine their parental authority to decide what is best for their kids.
“What about families’ right to see their child in a doctor for proper treatment?” Sen. Nan Orrock, a Democrat from Atlanta, made the question during the reading.
When forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth, trans children and adults are prone to anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior, according to research.
Critics were caught off guard when Watson inserted the proposed restrictions into an unrelated bill about putting opioids in public houses. However, opponents of more restrictions gathered to speak, including Chloe Cole, a well-known conservative activist who opposes gender-affirming treatment for adolescents and spoke to politicians about her gender transition reversal.
Democrats reacted furiously to the swift attack, noting that their adversaries had no opportunity to speak. It’s doubtful there will be another reading on the matter because the Senate was amending a bill that had already passed the House.
Sen. Sonya Halpern, an Atlanta Democrat, said, “The only people we’ve heard from today are the people who clearly knew this (bill) was coming and support it, and we have not been able to hear any testimony from anyone who would represent the opposing viewpoint.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its support for transgender child health care last year, calling the state’s limits “unprecedented state incursion.”
Additionally, the group voted to send further documentation to pediatricians, including scientific and technical reports, and to conduct an external review of research on the care.
The urgency to let kids “make choices about the health treatment that is right for their families and allows their children to grow up healthy and safe” was echoed by Georgia Equality, a party that lobbies for LGBTQ+ rights.
Wes Sanders Han-Brown, a spokesperson for Transgender Youth, said in a statement, “This bill puts lawmakers between parents and services, and it may end access to essential medical treatment for transgender young people.”
However, Watson cited England, which made the decision to not frequently prescribe puberty-blockers to children at gender identity clinics, as proof that more proof is required regarding the potential benefits and drawbacks.
The move comes as Georgia legislators face a Democratic primary opponent running to Watson’s right in the election time. It earned him praise from Frontline Policy Action, a Christian conservative organization that had criticized the act last year for allowing puberty blockers and making exceptions for “medically necessary” procedures.
