Lewis Problem-Solution Essay article 2
Author: Movement Advancement Project
Movement Advancement Project | Health Care / Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth. https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/healthcare_youth_medical_care_bans. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
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Bans on best-practice medical care represent one of the most extreme and coordinated political attacks on transgender people in recent years. These bills target transgender youth by blocking their access to best-practice medical care, care that is backed by years of rigorous research and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and other leading health authorities. These bills not only display a fundamental lack of understanding of transgender children, but they also ban access to medical care often by criminalizing either the doctors or even the parents of transgender youth seeking to provide best-practice medicine for children in their care.
For more on these efforts, including how these attacks have become more extreme over time, read MAP's 2023 spotlight report.
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State has "shield" law protecting access to transgender health care (see this map for more information) (14 states + D.C.)
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State has "shield" executive order protecting access to transgender health care (see this map for more information) (2 states)
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State neither bans nor has "shield" law for best practice medical care for transgender youth (8 states, 5 territories)
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State bans best practice surgical care for transgender youth (2 states)
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State bans best practice medication and surgical care for transgender youth, though ban may not be in effect (see note) (25 states)
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State ban makes it a felony crime to provide certain forms of best practice medical care for transgender youth (6 states)
*Notes (and see the "Citations" tab or click "Citations & More Information" below the map legend for more information about every state):
-Arizona banned surgical care for transgender minors in 2022, but in 2023 a new governor issued an executive order with "shield" style protections for transgender health care that is still legal in the state.
Go to the transgender healthcare "shield" Equality Map to learn more about these laws.
-Multiple states have "grandfather" clauses, "weaning off" clauses, or limited exceptions for some transgender youth and/or for some types of medication.
Click "Citations" to read more detail about each bill or to access the law's language directly.
Bans Permanently Blocked
The following laws are permanently blocked from being enforced, though appeals may be ongoing.
Transgender youth should still be able to access care legally.
-Arkansas: In June 2023, a federal judge permanently blocked the state's 2021 ban, ruling it unconstitutional.
However, the state has said it will appeal the ruling, and the state also passed a new law in 2023 (effective 90 days after the legislature adjourns) that will allow individuals who receive gender-affirming care as minors (or the family members of those minors) to sue their medical providers for malpractice, among other provisions.
The 2023 permanent block builds on an earlier temporary block issued in July 2021.
Bans Temporarily Blocked (In Full or In Part)
The following laws are at least partially blocked from being enforced, though these court cases are still ongoing.
Transgender youth should still be able to access care legally to the extent each of these blocks allow.
-Montana, fully blocked: In Sept 2023, a state district court temporarily blocked the state's ban on youth's care from being enforced while the lawsuit continues.
Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project.
[Year of access].
"Equality Maps: Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth." https://www.mapresearch.org/equality-maps/healthcare/youth_medical_care_bans.
Accessed [day of access].
Percent of Transgender Youth Covered by Laws
*Note: These percentages reflect estimates of the transgender youth (ages 13-17) population living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Estimates of transgender youth in the U.S. territories or under age 13 are not available, and so cannot be reflected here. Population estimates are from The Williams Institute.
37 % of transgender youth (ages 13-17) live in states that ban best practice medication and surgical care for transgender youth
3 % of transgender youth (ages 13-17) live in states that ban best practice surgical care for transgender youth
60 % of transgender youth (ages 13-17) live in states that do not ban best practice medical care for transgender youth
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