Topline
The Florida Board of Medicine approved a rule Friday that bans minors from obtaining gender-affirming care—though it will still face additional steps before being adopted—overruling guidance from leading medical groups and making Florida the latest state to target healthcare for transgender residents.
Protesters demonstrate in support of transgender rights in St. Paul on March 6.
Key Facts
The Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine, whose members were all appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), voted at a meeting Friday to approve the rule banning minors under age 18 who suffer from “gender dysphoria” to access medical care, including hormone blockers and gender-affirming surgery.
The two boards voted to adopt two different versions of the rule, however: The Board of Medicine got rid of a provision in the law that would allow clinical trials of gender-affirming care treatments to continue, while the osteopathic board voted to keep that provision.
The rule will now have a 28-day approval period, in which additional public comments are allowed, before it could take effect, NBC News reports.
The board voted to allow the rule following an hour-long discussion, in which they emphasized the “apolitical” nature of their decision making and cited a lack of evidence on the benefits of minors receiving gender-affirming care, calling studies in support of it “questionable.”
A committee within the board voted last week to start drafting the rule over opposition from transgender rights advocates and medical experts, instead following testimony from endocrinologist Dr. Michael Laidlaw, who cited widely disputed research suggesting 50% to 90% of children who believe their gender identity does not match their biological sex eventually change their minds.
Dr. Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine who testified at the committee meeting, told board members that study is flawed and was conducted by people who aren’t experts in the field, including a dentist, likening it to “a dermatologist review of the literature on a neurosurgical procedure.”
Crucial Quote
During the board’s committee meeting last week, an activist shouted, “The blood is on your hands!” regarding the consequences of the board banning gender-affirming care on transgender youth. “That’s okay,” board member Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah responded, NBC News reports.
Chief Critic
The American Medical Association has formally opposed state measures banning gender-affirming care for minors, saying legislation outlawing that care “represents a dangerous governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine and will be detrimental to the health of transgender children across the country.” “Every major medical association in the United States recognizes the medical necessity of transition-related care for improving the physical and mental health of transgender people,” the AMA wrote in a 2021 letter to the National Governors Association in opposition to policies banning minors’ gender-affirming care. In addition to the AMA, medical groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association and American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have also emphasized their support for access to gender-affirming care for minors.
Key Background
The Florida medical board took up the issue of banning gender-affirming care for minors after the state’s controversial Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo asked them to do so in June. The Florida Department of Health released guidance in April recommending against gender-affirming care and that gender transition “should not be a treatment option for children or adolescents,” and the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration issued a report in June that argued gender-affirming care is “not consistent with widely accepted professional medical standards” and has “the potential for harmful long term affects [sic].” Ladapo pointed to that report to justify asking the board to craft a rule banning the healthcare treatments, claiming the recommendations by groups like the AMA in favor of gender-affirming care “appear to follow a preferred political ideology instead of the highest level of generally accepted medical science.” Florida also barred gender-affirming care from being covered by Medicaid. The Florida board’s actions Friday marked the latest instance of states targeting gender-affirming care: Arkansas and Alabama have both enacted laws banning such care, which have now been at least partially blocked in court (Alabama still outlaws surgery treatments but not medications), and Arizona enacted legislation earlier this year banning gender-affirming care for minors. Florida marks the first state that has banned the care for minors through a state health board.
Further Reading
Florida medical board votes to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors (NBC News)
Politicians turn to medical boards to ban gender-affirming care (Axios)
Florida medical board is full of DeSantis donors. They vote on transgender care Friday. (Tampa Bay Times)
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