Georgia’s politicians struck a balance a year ago when they banned the majority of gender-affirming surgeries and hormone 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 last year, state senator Ben Watson, is now trying to tip the balance toward 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 transgender minors’ access to medical care, and the majority of those states are facing legal action.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Arkansas’ ban last year as unconstitutional, and judges’ orders are temporarily obstructing the enforcement of restrictions in Idaho and Montana. After an appeals court section in September granted Alabama’s prohibition, a federal prosecutor who had briefly stymied 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 last vote to occur Monday. The Democrat Governor has the right to veto the bill, but it is expected to pass. Kelly, Laura
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 adolescence in the hopes that their gender dysphoria will disappear.
According to Watson, “I thought it appropriate to make it so 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 adolescents and to undermine their parental authority to decide what is best for their children.
“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 female they were assigned at birth, trans children and adults are prone to anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior, according to research.
Despite GOP president’s reject, Ohio prohibits gender-affirming care and restrains transgender athletes.
The proposed restriction was inserted by Watson into an unrelated bill that dealt with the provision of opioids in public houses, caught off guard by opponents. However, opponents of more restrictions gathered to speak, including Chloe Cole, a well-known activist who opposes gender-affirming treatment for adolescents and spoke to politicians about her gender transition reversal.
Democrats reacted furiously to the cloak attack, noting that their adversaries had no opportunity to speak. It’s doubtful there will be another reading on the problem because the Senate was changing 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 testimony at all from anyone who would represent the opposing viewpoint.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its support for gender-affirming health care for transgender kids last year, calling the state’s limits “unprecedented state intrusion.”
Additionally, the group voted to perform an external assessment of research regarding the care of pediatricians, including scientific and technological reports, and to provide additional documents to support those efforts.
The call to let kids “make choices about the health treatment that is appropriate for their families and allows their children to grow up healthy and safe was echoed by Georgia Equality, a group that fights for LGBTQ+ freedom.
Wes Sanders Han-Brown, a spokesperson for Transgender Youth, said in a statement that “this bill puts politicians between parents and doctors and may ban access to essential health care for young transgender people.”
However, Watson cited England, which made the decision not to 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 season. It earned him praise from Frontline Policy Action, a conservative Christian group that had criticized the act last year for allowing “medically necessary” procedures and making exceptions for them.
