Efforts to restrict transgender health care endure in 2024, with more adults targeted

By ANDREW DeMILLO and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
Associated Press

Republican-led state legislatures are again considering bills restricting medical care for transgender youths and some adults the year after a wave of high-profile bills became law. Advocates for transgender rights say most of the states inclined to pass gender-affirming care bans have done so. They now expect those states to build upon those restrictions and expand them to adults. At least 22 states have enacted bans on gender affirming care for children. Most of them were approved in the past year. Major medical groups oppose the bans and have endorsed the care for youth. They say it’s safe when administered properly.