Some Republican state lawmakers want to ban medical treatment for young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
Two bills filed Thursday — Senate Bill 140, sponsored by Cordele Republican Sen. Carden Summers and others, and Senate Bill 141, sponsored by Gwinnett Republican Sen. Clint Dixon and others — are part of a larger trend seen in around a dozen states this year.
The state Senate bills would prohibit gender-affirming medical care for young people experiencing gender dysphoria, a clinical condition where a person’s gender identity differs from their gender assigned at birth.
“The General Assembly has an obligation to protect children, whose brains and executive functioning are still developing, from undergoing unnecessary and irreversible medical treatment,” SB 140 reads.
The proposals call for prohibiting health providers — including school nurses and school officials — from providing medical care, such as surgeries, prescribing hormones or puberty-blocking drugs. They offer exceptions for so-called “medically necessary” or “verifiable” medical conditions.
