Health workers decry hasty House bills to ban gender-affirming care for children: ‘They hurt people’ | US news

Nicholas Mitchell took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob. He never knew what to expect inside. Sometimes the staff of U.S. House representatives was friendly; He had heard that they sometimes tore up copies of the handouts Mitchell carried on the clipboard.

This time they were understanding. A policy aide to a Democratic representative said he had five minutes to speak, and Mitchell wasted no time settling into the conference room.

“We are here to discuss two upcoming bills, H.R. 498 and H.R. 3492,” Mitchell said.

Two bills introduced this week for a scheduled vote on Wednesday both targeted gender-affirming health care for children; This marks the first time Congress has voted on national grooming bans and a massive increase in anti-trans rhetoric from conservative US lawmakers.

A bill that would criminalize parents and providers of gender-affirming care to children under 18 passed the House on Wednesday night.

This is the most significant attempt by federal lawmakers to restrict health care for children in the United States.

The bill, introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene as one of her final acts as a legislator before retiring from the House of Representatives next month, would make gender-affirming grooming a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The bill passed by a vote of 216-211, with three Democrats voting for the bill.

It is thought unlikely to pass the Senate.

As one of her final acts before retiring from the House next month, Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a bill that would criminalize providers who provide gender-affirming care to anyone under 18, making it a federal crime punishable by up to ten years in prison.

The other bill, introduced by Dan Crenshaw, would ban Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for children. Under the law, transgender children on Medicaid will no longer have access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical care, but cisgender children will.

Mitchell said both bills would “cause a lot of unnecessary suffering. The morally correct thing to do is to oppose it.”

As an unusually bitter cold loosened its grip on Washington on Tuesday and the sun softened the lingering snow in front of the Capitol, partners Mitchell and Odile Saint-Flour, who live in Maryland, joined a handful of activists with the group Bulletproof Pride in a last-minute meeting of lawmakers following the introduction of the bills.

Saint-Flour, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, is a nurse who has worked with inpatient and outpatient psychiatric patients.

“Trans people make up a very small percentage of the population, but they are so overrepresented in psychiatry because the suicide rate is incredibly high,” they said. “From the research we’ve done, it’s pretty clear that it’s society that tells people they shouldn’t exist, and that really has a profound effect on the whole society.”

​Nearly half (46%) of trans and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide by 2024, according to a study, and 12% of LGBTQ+ youth have attempted suicide. questionnaire By The Trevor Project.

By comparison, 20.4% of high school students in question seriously considered suicide, and 9.5% attempted suicide in 2023.

A few years after Mitchell graduated from medical school, Texas banned abortion in early pregnancy, and the repercussions were immediately felt throughout healthcare. Providers were unsure of what kind of care they could provide to their pregnant patients; Lawyers for medical centers interpreted the law broadly to avoid possible scrutiny.

That’s a big reason why Mitchell, a psychiatrist, left Texas. He said he fears “the idea of ​​having to look over my shoulder every time I see a patient and having my moral, ethical and professional obligations sidelined against my legal obligations.”

He wants the laws to be formulated with feedback from patients, providers and experts.

“We have seen time and time again that good, open access to gender-affirming care is extremely effective in reducing suicide rates among transgender youth,” Mitchell said at a meeting.

Gender-affirming care is a broad term. It may mean prescribing medication; Very rarely, it may require surgery. But most gender-affirming care, especially for children, is much simpler than that: Providers appear to use correct pronouns and offer support to their patients.

Losing this support and respect can be devastating for patients’ physical and emotional health, Mitchell and Saint-Flour said.

Trans youth are at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and suicide than their cis peers; which may “reflect a lack of social acceptance.” questionnaire There are studies on the subject. The study found that health interventions led to significantly lower rates of mental health problems.

“Bills like this are dangerous,” Saint-Flour said. “They’re hurting people. They say it’s to protect children, but they’re trying to deny people access to healthcare that reduces suicide rates for trans youth and trans people in general.”

Bills that limit health care for some people could be harmful to everyone, Mitchell said. Even when laws are narrow and specific, they create ripple effects; The anti-abortion law in Texas has blocked access to health care for miscarriage management and life-threatening infections, among other serious concerns.

“Even at the most basic level, even if these things are applied in the most narrow way, they’re still going to hurt people,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “That pain alone is a reason not to pass these bills.”

On the Capitol steps this morning, Sarah McBride, the first transgender member of Congress, questioned why Republicans were advancing two bills that would involve the government in medical decisions without addressing Affordable Care Act credits that expire in two days.

“Instead of focusing on the fact that the richest 1% are looting everyone’s healthcare to pay for their tax cuts, they would rather us focus and discuss the misunderstood and vulnerable 1% of the population,” McBride said.

McBride said the anti-trans bill introduced by Greene would criminalize parents and providers for providing gender-affirming care to children and put parents at risk of being “literally jailed for affirming their transgender children and following medical best practices.”

“The government should never interfere with the personal health decisions of patients, parents, and providers. This is a fundamental principle and a fundamental right that should be afforded to all Americans, including transgender people and their families,” he said.

McBride mentioned that prejudice against trans people can harm their lives. McBride said that although she knew she was trans all her life, she did not come out until she was 21, which led to “21 years of pain.” “My biggest regret in life is that I did not have a childhood without these pains.”

“Raising a family is hard enough. Being a child is hard enough. And the government shouldn’t make it harder,” McBride said.