Governor Little signs bill banning gender-affirming care for minors

(Idaho Statesman) – Idaho doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors could now face up to 10 years in prison.

Republican Gov. Brad Little signed into law House Bill 71 on Tuesday, which makes it a crime to provide puberty blockers, hormone therapy and transition-related surgeries to minors. Idaho becomes the 10th state to ban gender-affirming care for youth and young adults, according to the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

“I recognize that our society plays a role in protecting minors from surgeries or treatments that may irreversibly damage their healthy bodies,” Little said in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday. “However, as policymakers, we must exercise great caution whenever we consider allowing the government to interfere with loving parents and their decisions about what is best for their children.”

GOP lawmakers who backed the ban on gender-affirming care said it harmed children’s reproductive development and that mental therapy was a safer alternative.

“This bill is about protecting children,” said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who drafted the legislation with the Idaho Family Policy Center, a Christian advocacy group.

But transgender Idahoans, and their friends and families, have told lawmakers that gender-affirming care can save lives. Eve Devitt, a 17-year-old transgender girl, told a House committee in February that taking estrogen for the past three years had improved her mental health and that hormone therapy had helped save her life.

“I managed to pull myself off a cliff that I wasn’t sure I would ever find myself in,” Devitt said. “I feel so much better and more complete with myself.”

The American Medical Association has in recent years opposed state policies restricting gender-affirming care. Forgoing care can have “tragic consequences” for transgender people, who report improved mental health and lower suicide rates after receiving care, according to a press release from the professional group.

Idaho doctors offered conflicting views on gender-affirming care during the legislative session. Dr. Brandon Mickelsen, a Pocatello family physician and president of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, an 800-member nonprofit advocacy group, urged lawmakers to oppose the bill because it would remove doctors’ options for treating transgender minors in “severe pain”. .”

Dr. Rodney Story, a Moscow family doctor who backed the bill, told lawmakers that the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians’ stance on gender-affirming care has caused a rift between members. Many have left the organization, in part because of its stance on transgender health care, Story said.

Among lawmakers, support for the bill was mostly split between parties.

Most Republicans supported the legislation, but some said the restrictions went too far. Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, who ultimately supported the bill, said she was conflicted after speaking with several parents of transgender children.

“If they weren’t allowed to have the necessary medication to help them on their journey, it would be devastating for them,” McCann said during a House debate. “If he just said, ‘Let’s not allow the operation’…that’s an easy call.”

Skaug acknowledged at a committee meeting that there was no evidence that Idaho doctors were performing transition-related surgeries on minors.

Democrats strongly opposed the bill. Transition-related surgeries aren’t the standard of care in Idaho, Democrats argued, but hormone therapy and puberty blockers help transgender children feel comfortable in their bodies while they weigh a permanent change.

“It’s complex,” Deputy House Minority Leader Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, said during the House debate. “We need to trust parents and respect their rights to navigate this process and make these decisions for their children. Parents of gender diverse children are loving parents.

Senate Democrats proposed changing the bill to only ban surgeries and add an exception for suicidal transgender minors, but Republicans rejected the changes.

Lawmakers this session also passed a law requiring public schools to maintain separate restrooms for transgender students. Little signed Senate Bill 1100 into law last month. Students can sue their school for $5,000 if they encounter a student using a bathroom that doesn’t match their birth gender.

Republicans in Idaho also approved a new law prohibiting local governments from requiring contractors to accommodate transgender people by providing separate bathrooms, showers or changing rooms that match their gender identity.