Idaho’s State Capitol.Photo: Getty
Idaho’s Republican-led state Senate killed a bill that would havemade it a felony for parents to help transgender teens receive gender-affirming health care, a surprise move that comes after a national outcry over the policy.
Senate Republicanssaid in a statementTuesday night that while they still oppose gender reassignment surgery for kids under 18, they were blocking the bill because it undermined parental rights and amounted to government overreach.
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“The bill’s language in its current form could be interpreted to extend into the realm of medically necessary care for kids that is in no way related to transgender therapy, but serves children with highly specialized medical needs,” the senators said.
The bill was one of 29 different pieces of legislation that Republican-led state governments have introduced this year thatrestrict transgender children from getting health care. A few weeks earlier, in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott authorized the state’s Department of Family and Protective Servicesto investigate parents who are allowing their transgender children to get gender-affirming surgeries, calling it a form of “child abuse.”
People rally outside of the Idaho state capitol for transgender rights in 2020.Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Major medical organizations such as theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, theAmerican Medical Associationand theAmerican Psychological Associationhave said that gender-affirming medical care is a medically-necessary service for transgender kids.
source: people.com
