In just a few years, half of all states passed bans on trans health care for kids
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Transgender people under the age of 18 face laws that ban gender-affirming care in 25 states, half the country. Just a few years ago, not a single state had such a law. In late June, the Supreme Court decided to consider a challenge to one of these bans. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has more.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: To Shannon Minter, senior counsel with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the rush of conservative lawmakers to pass laws targeting trans youth looks like a moral panic.
SHANNON MINTER: Just legislatures jumping on this bandwagon and repeating, like, wildly inaccurate claims.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: To groups that support the bans, the laws are, quote, "efforts to rein in the predatory transgender industry," as the American Principles Project Terry Schilling wrote in a statement. The group did not respond to NPR's request for an interview.
LINDSEY DAWSON: Pressure have been mounting for the Supreme Court to weigh in here.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Lindsey Dawson directs LGBTQ health policy at the health research organization KFF. She says 25 states have passed these laws, and more than half of them have been challenged in court. Twenty bans are currently in effect.
DAWSON: We've seen split decisions in the appeals courts, which is always an indication that an issue might be right for the Supreme Court.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Dawson says, it's not clear what sparked so many states to ban this kind of care, but in the last few years, the policies seemed to spread like wildfire, she says. The details of the state bans vary, but these laws generally bar transgender young people from accessing hormones, puberty blockers, and surgery, which is very rare for young people. Nearly all the bans include penalties for medical providers. Several target parents, teachers and counselors. Lawmakers claim that gender-affirming care for youth is experimental and harmful, and some object in religious terms.
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DAVEY HIOTT: When God created us, he created us male and female. That's it. There is no other choice.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's South Carolina House Majority Leader Republican Davey Hiott talking to reporters in January.
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HIOTT: And all these other folks that want to change that from birth or change that through their life - we need to stand up against that.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: The speed at which lawmakers have passed these laws mystifies Dr. Kade Goepferd, who leads the gender health program at Children's Minnesota. Goepferd has provided the same kind of care for gender diverse kids for 20 years.
KADE GOEPFERD: There's no new way that we're approaching this care. There's no new medications that we're using. There was no new groundbreaking research study that came out. Nothing has changed.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and all other major medical groups in the U.S. support gender-affirming care for youth as safe and necessary. It's also time sensitive and requires regular doctor visits.
GOEPFERD: So right now, Minnesota - if you look at a map, Minnesota sits as an island surrounded by states with bans.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: A lot of families who can't get care in their home state are traveling. Goepferd says that has led to about 30% more calls to their clinic.
GOEPFERD: Even though we have added additional clinician staff, both medical and mental health staff, to try to keep up with that, our waitlist is still over a year long.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Which, when it comes to puberty, is a very long time. The Supreme Court won't delve into facts in this case, like whether gender-affirming care is effective or safe medical treatment. Shannon Minter, the LGBTQ attorney, explains the justices only agreed to consider a narrow question.
MINTER: Whether a law that singles out transgender young people is sex discrimination.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: If it is, the lower courts will need to apply more scrutiny to the claims of the transgender young people and their families who are challenging these bans. Dawson of KFF notes, this is a very conservative Supreme Court.
DAWSON: It's really hard to say with this Court and the legal precedent what the outcome is going to be.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Oral arguments will take place in the fall with a decision expected in spring 2025. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.
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