CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) 鈥� West Virginia's Republican-controlled House of Delegates passed a bill on Wednesday that doctors treating transgender youth in the state say would prevent the prescription of certain medical interventions like hormone therapy to .
The proposal, which now heads to the Senate, was greenlit after more than 500 medical professionals and students , expressing concern it would cause young patients preventable harm and put their lives at risk.
House Republicans said such fears are overblown and that the bill is less restrictive than current law. But the state's only LGBTQ+ advocacy organization and doctors treating transgender youth in West Virginia said that's not true.
鈥淚f this bill becomes law, it will take away the only treatment that has been shown to help a small, but very vulnerable group of children,鈥� said Dr. Kate Waldeck, a pediatric critical care physician at Hoops Family Children鈥檚 Hospital in the state鈥檚 second-largest city of Huntington. Waldeck runs a monthly clinic for transgender youth 鈥� one of only a few existing care options in the state.
She said the law as it stands enables transgender adolescents to get the medical and psychiatric evaluations they need while still allowing doctors 鈥渢o provide what is truly life-saving medical care.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it comes down to 鈥� gender-affirming care keeps these children out of my PICU. It saves lives,鈥� she said. "And the new bill would strip parents of the right to obtain this potentially life-saving care for their children.鈥�
On the House floor, Lead Sponsor Republican Del. Geoff Foster said he doesn't believe treatments like puberty blockers help reduce suicide rates, despite research showing otherwise.
He said the bill is 鈥減ointing doctors in the direction of actually treating the issue of the suicidality problem and the depression rather than moving to a solution that鈥檚 not working.鈥�
Republicans in the House of Delegates 鈥� who occupy 89 out of 100 seats 鈥� voted last year to eliminate transgender minors' access to hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The bill was altered in the Senate by Majority Leader Tom Takubo, a physician who expressed concern about the high suicide rate for transgender youth.
The 2023 law allows the prescription of medical interventions but requires parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two medical professionals, both of whom must provide written testimony that medical interventions are necessary to prevent or limit possible or actual self-harm.
It says any use of the medication must be the lowest possible necessary "to treat the psychiatric condition and not for purposes of gender transition.鈥�
Takubo, a physician, cited more than a dozen peer-reviewed studies showing a decrease in rates of suicide ideation and attempts among youth with severe gender dysphoria who had access to medication therapy. Gender dysphoria is defined by medical professionals as severe psychological distress experienced by those whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.
The law also prohibits kids from accessing gender-affirming surgery, which physicians said wasn鈥檛 happening in West Virginia anyway.
House Health and Human Resources Chair Amy Summers, a Republican and registered nurse, said this year's bill wouldn't prevent adolescents from getting hormone therapy treatment for psychiatric conditions like gender dysphoria as long as the dose was not supraphysiologic, or high enough that it 鈥渁ctually assisted that child in transitioning."
鈥淲hat has been expressed to me by physicians is that they are receiving lower doses of a hormone, and that tends to help with their anxiety and depression,鈥� she said. "But it鈥檚 not doses that transition that individual.鈥�
Republican Del. JB Akers said he's received emails from 鈥減eople who I think simply attacked this body for going after kids and going after doctors," and that people upset about the bill don't fully understand it. Current law already prevents prescribing medication to assist minors with a gender transition, he said: 鈥漌hether you like it or not 鈥� that鈥檚 what the law is."
鈥淲e have affirmation that this medication can still be provided for psychiatric treatment, which is my main concern. And that鈥檚 not changed," he said. 鈥淎nd no one in this body is against the physicians or health care providers who provide this care.鈥�
But Waldeck, the doctor who treats transgender kids in West Virginia, said in a phone interview Wednesday that it doesn鈥檛 feel that way to her.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e saying you can鈥檛 do it for gender transition, well, what is the normal physiologic level, then?鈥� she said. 鈥淚n terms of what doctors are legally going to be able to do, in reality, there鈥檚 not going to be a normal quote unquote physiologic level for a biological female who is getting testosterone for their gender dysphoria and suicidality.鈥�
She said if signed into law, the proposal would restrict her ability to help her most at-risk patients: "In reality, it is still an effective treatment ban."
Before voting for the bill, lawmakers rejected two amendments from Democratic Del. Mike Pushkin. One would have allowed kids already receiving treatment to continue care. The other would have allowed treatment if an attending physician provides a written opinion that it's "medically necessary to treat the minor鈥檚 psychiatric symptoms that makes the minor a danger to commit suicide without such treatment.鈥�
Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association, supports gender-affirming care for youths.
Lawmakers in West Virginia and other states advancing for youth and young adults often characterize gender-affirming treatments as and a symptom of 鈥渨oke鈥� culture.
Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of Fairness West Virginia, said delegates are sending a message to parents with transgender teens who are at serious risk of self-harm or suicide that they can鈥檛 get their kid the help that doctors say they need in West Virginia.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand how anyone could look at these families and tell them their child鈥檚 life doesn鈥檛 matter, but that鈥檚 what they did today with this vote,鈥� he said.
Leah Willingham, The Associated Press
