TALLAHASSEE: Transgender children in Florida will be barred from receiving hormones or undergoing surgeries to treat gender dysphoria under a rule approved Friday by state medical officials at the urging of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Florida Board of Medicine and the state Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted at a joint meeting in Lake Buena Vista to finalize rules governing gender-affirming health care for minors. The rule is set to take effect after a weekslong public input period.
The rule prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty-blocking, hormone and hormone-antagonist therapies to treat gender dysphoria in minors. It bans sex reassignment surgeries or other surgical procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics in minors.
“Today’s vote from the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine will protect our children from irreversible surgeries and highly experimental treatments. I appreciate the integrity of the Boards for ruling in the best interest of children in Florida despite facing tremendous pressure to permit these unproven and risky treatments. Children deserve to learn how to navigate this world without harmful pressure, and Florida will continue to fight for kids to be kids,” Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said in a statement.
Florida health officials banned state Medicaid insurance coverage for gender dysphoria treatments this year and issued a report that said the treatments have not been proven safe or effective. After the report’s publication, Ladapo, a DeSantis appointee, called for the adoption of new rules around the treatments.
Florida has also clashed with federal health officials who advocate for providing treatments for young people.
Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban on gender-affirming care, with Republican lawmakers in 2021 overriding GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the legislation. Alabama Republicans this year approved legislation to outlaw gender-affirming medications for transgender youths. Both laws have been paused amid unfolding legal battles.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed a bill last month that bars federal funds earmarked for the University of Oklahoma Medical Center from being used for gender reassignment treatments for minors.
Tennessee bans doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment to prepubescent minors. To date, no one has legally challenged the law as medical experts maintain no doctor in Tennessee does so.
In Florida, DeSantis signed a law last year barring transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student-athletes identified as girls at birth.
Source: AP News