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Pro-transgender signs at the first Gender Liberation March in Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2024).
A bill banning Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for youth has passed the U.S. House with the help of four Democrats.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would prevent Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, passed 215 to 201 Thursday with four Democrats voting in favor: Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, North Carolina Rep. Don Davis, and Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. It now goes to the Senate, where it is unclear if it has the support needed to pass.
Medicaid policy already explicitly excludes trans-related health care for all ages in 11 states, according to the Movement Advancement Project: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. An additional three states prevent Medicaid from covering the care for minors: Arkansas, Kansas, and Mississippi.
The House also approved on Wednesday a bill that would impose felony penalties of up to 10 years in prison on physicians who provide puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgical care to patients under 18 for the purpose of gender transition. The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, would also expose parents and others who consent to or help minors access that care to criminal liability.
The bill passed by a vote of 216 to 211. Three Democrats — Cuellar, Gonzalez, and Davis — voted in favor of the bill. Four Republicans voted against: Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, New York Rep. Mike Lawler, Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy, and Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans.
The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the World Medical Association, and the World Health Organization all agree that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary not just for adults, but minors as well.
Related: U.S. Senate parliamentarian blocks GOP’s plan to ban gender-affirming care under Medicaid
“Politicians should never prohibit parents from doing what is best for their transgender children,” Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the ACLU, said in a statement. “These families often spend years considering how best to support their children, only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive."
"But this bill also creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors," Zamore added. "We strongly condemn the passage of this measure and urge members of the Senate to do everything in their power to prevent it from ever becoming law.”
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