Georgia restricted transgender care for youth in 2023. Now Republicans are seeking an outright ban
Associated PressATLANTA — A year ago, Georgia lawmakers said they were striking a balance when they banned most gender-affirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18, but let doctors continue prescribing puberty blockers and let minors then receiving hormone replacement therapies continue. Watson, a physician, had said last year that allowing the use of puberty blockers was a way of letting transgender minors wait until adulthood before making decisions they couldn’t reverse. The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its support for gender-affirming medical care for transgender children last year, calling the restrictions enacted by states “unprecedented government intrusion.” The group also voted to provide additional documents to support pediatricians, including clinical and technical reports, and to conduct an external review of research regarding the care. Georgia Equality, a group that lobbies for LGBTQ+ rights, echoed the call to let parents “make decisions about the health care that is right for their families and allows their kids to grow up healthy and safe.” “This amendment puts politicians between parents and providers, and could ban access to essential medical care for transgender young people,” spokesperson Wes Sanders Han-Burgess said in a statement. It won him plaudits from Frontline Policy Action, a Christian conservative group that had criticized last year’s bill for allowing puberty blockers and creating exceptions for “medically necessary” procedures.