Utah Governor Signs Bill Banning Gender-Affirming Health Care
TimeMAR 9 2023
Utah's Republican Governor Spencer Cox on Saturday signed a law banning transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors who have not yet been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
The GOP-controlled state legislature began considering the bill on Jan. 17, just two days after the government session opened, with Cox signing it one day after it was sent to his desk.
The hotly-debated bill was sponsored by Republican state Sen. Michael Kennedy who argued that gender-affirming procedures "lack sufficient research" and are "radical and dangerous," while fellow GOP state Sen. Daniel Thatcher worried that the measure could potentially ban life-saving care for trans youth.
Cox has ignored the warnings of medical organizations, civil rights activists, and the families of transgender youth. This is a horrifying violation of the rights to privacy and life-saving health care. Claims of protecting vulnerable youth with these laws ring hollow with those who know these children best: their parents and doctors.
The science is far from settled on this topic and its consequences. Even the left's own studies show that hormone treatment provides no mental health benefits for boys and very little benefit for girls. Depression and suicide and depression rates are so high among these children because they lack real therapeutic care, and nothing will change until the medical establishment puts the truth over political brownie points and profits.