June 7, 2023 – Ty Roush / Forbes
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed a bill Wednesday restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors, the latest in a growing list of states—including more than a dozen this year—with legislation targeting transgender healthcare.
June 7, 2023 Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R)—who threatened to call a special session to pass a ban—approved a bill that prohibits in-state physicians from performing gender-reassignment surgeries or from prescribing puberty blockers to minors unless they were already receiving treatment before August 28, with an added provision that restricts access to surgeries for imprisoned adults.
June 2, 2023 A new Texas law—which takes effect in September following Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature—prohibits physicians from providing surgery “for the purpose of transitioning a child’s biological sex” or surgery that “sterilizes the child,” and from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies to minors, though it makes exceptions for children who are already receiving care until they “wean off” any drugs they are taking.
May 22, 2023 Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed a bill that prevents doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy or performing gender-altering procedures on people under 19 starting October 1, with some exceptions for people with “a medically verifiable disorder of sex development”—the bill also bans abortions after 12 weeks, effective immediately, in what Pillen called “the most significant win for social conservative agenda in over a generation of Nebraska.”
May 17, 2023 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill that prohibits physicians in the state from providing gender-affirming services for minors, including “sex-reassignment prescriptions” or medication like puberty blockers, and includes a provision restricting access for adults unless they sign a consent form (the Florida Board of Medicine previously banned gender-transition surgeries and puberty blockers for most minors in November).
May 1, 2023 Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R)—who called for a ban on gender-affirming care last year—signed a bill that prohibits physicians in the state from providing “gender transition procedures,” including gender-reassignment surgery or prescribing puberty blockers, with a provision indicating physicians can be charged with a felony and lose their medical licenses if they violate the law.
