The state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors was the subject of a complaint filed by five trans children and their households on Monday, alleging that it “has endangered the plaintiffs’ health and wellbeing.”
The legislation, formerly known as HB 648, is now Act 466. It forbids gender-affirming care for transgender people in the state under the age of 18, and it punishes doctors who provide it, including providing access to hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery. The Act went into effect last week on New Year’s Day after the state legislature overrode a veto issued by the previous Democratic governor of Louisiana last summer.
According to the lawsuit, the ban violates the Louisiana State Constitution by denying kids the right to support their children’s health decisions, deprives minors of access to medical care, and discriminates against them based on their gender and transgender identity.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Counsel and Health Care Strategist for Lambda Legal, stated in a speech that the “Health Care Ban just stands to hurt Louisiana’s transgender youth and their families.” “It is illegal and cruel to deny youth clinical care just because they are transgender, especially when all other minors have access to the same treatments.”
According to the lawsuit, which accuses the state of having “singled out transgender minors for discrimination by enacting a blanket ban on medical treatments for transgender adolescents,” Trans Minors in Louisiana “are faced with the loss of access to safe, effective, and necessary medical care they need to address their gender dysphoria—a critical medical condition.”
One of the plaintiffs, Max Moe, remarked that “being able to access gender-affirming care and be my real self has been a lifesaver.” “I worry about how my mental health may deteriorate and am terrified of what the Health Care Ban will do.”
In their case, the plaintiffs are being represented by a Louisiana law firm as well as Lambda Legal and Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation.
According to Suzanne Davies, Senior Clinical Fellow at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School and one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in their lawsuit, “Trans children deserve to get health care on the same basis as everyone else.”
According to Davies, “by deliberately outlawing care treatments for trans youth, this law denies Louisiana adolescents equitable access to medically important, frequently life-saving care that is effective in treating gender dysphoria as well as other serious health conditions like depression, anxiety, and perhaps suicidal ideation that can occur when gender dysphoria is left untreated.”
More than 40% of transgender adults in the United States have attempted suicide, four times more frequently than their cisgender peers, according to a study released in July by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
According to a 2020 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, the numbers for transgender children are even worse, with 56% having made an attempt at suicide.
The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have both expressed their opposition to what the AMA refers to as “governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine that is harmful to the health of trans and gender-diverse children and adults,” and they have repeatedly reaffirmed their dedication to helping trans children find care that affirms their identity.
Despite the fact that it is evidence-based, safe, effective, and supported by all major health organizations, Louisiana has prohibited this medical care solely for minors who are transgender, according to Gonzalez-Pagan.
The wide government overreach into
the relationship between children, their parents, and their health care providers is represented by the “Health Care Ban.”
