If proposed legislation is passed into law, transgender and nonbinary children in Kansas may gain access to medical care they claim is lifesaving — and critics fear they will regret doing so.
The two bills that were recently heard in legislative committees on Thursday are state lawmakers’ latest attempt to stop doctors from prescribing gender-affirming treatment for teenagers and children who have gender dysphoria. Republicans failed to pass legislation like this last session, but they succeeded in restricting transgender people’s participation in sports and preventing them from altering the identity marker on their state identification.
The actions are a part of a national wave of laws that promote gender-affirmation and other transgender rights.
At sessions in Senate and House committee hearings, transgender Kansans, their supporters, and health professionals criticized those who supported the bills. Health commission chair Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, threw many people out of the House hearing for what she thought had caused disruptions.
Jaelynn Abegg, a transgender girl from Wichita who was Landwehr’s Democratic opponent in the 2022 election, said, “If it becomes law, there will be consequences.
It sickens me that the majority of this government may be patting themselves on the back with their bloody red hands,” she said before Landwehr instructed her to sit down.
The first bill, introduced by Coffeyville Republican Rep. Ron Bryce, would outlaw the current range of normal gender-affirming treatment for Kansas teenagers and kids, including hormone replacement therapy, surgeries, and puberty blockers.
Bryce compared the treatment to lobotomy, a medical procedure that was once accepted before being discredited, in testimony for the bill.
In response to a question from Shawnee Democratic Rep. Susan Ruiz, Bryce responded, “The comparison with lobotomy was meant to be shocking because I feel disturbed about this issue.”
Landwehr introduced a second bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for young people. Additionally, it would impose medical practice guidelines set forth in a 2017 blog post by the Endocrine Society on Kansans of all ages, restricting the use of hormone replacement therapy for Kansans of all ages.
Amanda Mogoi, a Wichita nurse practitioner who treats trans people at her office M-Care, claims that those rules are outdated. Additionally, she noted that it’s uncommon for people under the age of 18 to have gender-affirming surgery.
She was one of several medical specialists who claimed that the restrictions could have far-reaching effects for trans children who are already marginalized and have higher rates of mental illness and suicide. All major health organizations support gender-affirming care for young people with gender dysphoria on a national level.
Asher Wickell, a relationship and family therapist from Wichita who testified against the first bill, claimed it would prevent state-licensed medical providers from practicing responsibly, likely causing some to leave the state.
He said, “This is not just a bill that would kill our children and have an impact on our families.” “This will compel you to go to practice, or from the state, the doctors and nurses in your local hospital, the therapists in your neighborhood mental health facility, the crisis room, and the components of your country.”
It would also infringe on Kansans’ legal rights, according to D. C. Hiegert, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.
According to Hiegert, “This bill would set a precedent in Kansas where health providers should certainly provide you with the best, nationally recommended medical care available, but instead give you the care that politicians want you to receive,”
A group of mostly out-of-state supporters of the bills claimed that permitting gender-affirming medical care for minors was wrong and could lead to future regrets.
Jamie Reed, a former St. Louis female center employee who went public last year with accusations of misprescribing and additional concerns at the facility, was one of the supporters. Later that year, Missouri lawmakers enacted a sweeping restriction on gender-affirming care for youth in response to her claims.
She told legislators, “I saw several children receiving so-called gender-affirming care that ended up leading to significant harms and bad effects.” “During my career, we had people who had detransitioned. During my career, we had individuals who underwent full, radical mastectomies and experienced immediate regret within weeks.”
Before turning 18, California advocate Chloe Cole claimed to have had a double mastectomy and hormone replacement therapy that had left her permanently scarred.
“I was a victim of identity politics. This ideology targets youngsters like me who are different, who are on the autistic spectrum, who are struggling with puberty, stress, and identity formation as they grow into individuals.” “We must prevent the health sector from exploiting these children in the same way that I was done.”
In Kansas, according to experts, young people can only get medical care if their parents consent, and doctors only consider doing it after they’ve received mental health care and other support.
After the Legislature’s turn deadline, the proposals were debated, but
they could still be passed if they were amended to include language from other bills. Senate Republicans were one vote short of overriding a similar plan by Democrat Governor Laura Kelly last month.
For KMUW and the Kansas News Service, Rose Conlon provides health reports.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration between KCUR, KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, and High Plains Public Radio with an emphasis on health, the social determinants of health, and their intersection with public policy.
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