As legislative sessions begin in early 2023, lawmakers in 11 states have introduced more than two dozen bills to restrict access to transgender and gender-nonconforming healthcare, USA Today reported Jan. 9.
The bills have been proposed in Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
Many of the bills not only target gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-nonconforming youths, but also care for LGBTQ adults from age 21 to age 26, according to USA Today.
A bill proposed in Oklahoma would prohibit a physician or other healthcare professional from providing gender transition procedures to an individual under age 26. A bill proposed in South Carolina would prohibit a person younger than 21 from undergoing gender transition procedures. And a bill pre-filed in Texas would make it child abuse for a medical professional to provide gender-affirming care to youths.
The proposed bills come after 436 openly LGBTQ candidates won their 2022 midterm elections, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political action committee.
The proposed bills also come after the Human Rights Campaign identified online harassment campaigns against 24 hospitals and medical providers who offer gender-affirming care for transgender, nonbinary and questioning youth.
The finding, part of a report released Dec. 13, was announced as hospitals in cities such as Nashville, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have reported harassment in different forms and severity. Boston Children's confirmed that police investigated a report of an anonymous bomb threat at the hospital Aug. 30 related to its Gender Multispecialty Service program. No explosive device was located, but the hospital was on lockdown as police investigated. A Westfield, Mass., woman was ultimately charged in connection with the fake bomb threat. Additionally, a man from Canada was arrested in connection with multiple bomb threats in September targeting locations in the Boston area, including Boston Children's.
In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and Children's Hospital Association asked the Justice Department to investigate the organizations, individuals and entities responsible for the threats and harassment. Lawmakers have also joined medical associations in asking the Justice Department to step in to protect hospitals that have reported threats and harassment over medical care they provide to transgender children.