Lawmakers: Bill banning transgender youth from surgeries passes committee on Day 22

Caption

State senators discuss transgender health care bills SB 140 and SB 141.

Credit: Sarah Kallis / GPB News

A bill that would bar transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming medical care passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Day 21. 

Senate Bill 140, sponsored by Sen. Carden Summers (R - Cordele) would ban hospitals from treating transgender people under age at 18 with surgeries and hormone replacement therapy. 

"We want a wait-and-see approach, a do-no-harm approach, until the child reaches the age of 18," Summers said. "At that point in time, whatever that child or family decides to do, it's their business."

Critics of the bill say that the number of transgender youth who regret transitioning may be lower than SB 140's sponsors realize. The American Academy of Pediatrics found that after five years of transition, only about 2.5% of 371 transgender youth returned to the gender they were assigned at birth. 

Surgeries related to transition are rare and limited for children under 18 already, experts say. 

SB 140 leaves room for doctors to prescribe puberty blocker for transgender youth. Puberty blockers delay puberty for children who are questioning their gender or are transgender. They are also used to treat children who go through puberty too early. Their effects are reversible, and children will go through puberty when they stop taking them. Some effects of hormone therapy can be reversed, according to the Mayo clinic. But others, like breast tissue development or infertility may not be reversible. 

Senate Bill 141, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon (R - Gwinnett), would also ban surgeries for transgender youth, as well as puberty blockers and other types of hormone therapies. The bill makes exceptions for cisgender children, who are put on puberty blockers to prevent early puberty, and for intersex children. 

Dixon said that the bill aims to prevent children from making irreversible changes to their appearance before they are adults.

"They can't join the army; they can't buy alcohol — there's a lot of things that they can't do before they're of age, and this is definitely one of them in my opinion," he said. 

Critics of both bills cite mental health concerns for transgender youth that are denied gender-affirming care. A study from Harvard University found that receiving gender-affirming care was associated with a 44% reduction in suicidal ideation in transgender people.  Experts say that transgender youth experience higher rates of suicidal ideation than cisgender youth. 

Frank Cade, a nonbinary transgender man, spoke in the committee meeting about experiencing gender dysphoria and suicidality.

"In my adolescence, I received treatment for suicidality multiple times," Cade said. "I never received treatment for my gender dysphoria. It was only that as an adult I was able to access the care that I needed to begin to repair the damage of years done to my mental health without receiving the appropriate medical treatment that I needed. Your decisions here today affect the lives of our young people."

Parents of transgender youth said that the bills are an overreach, and that decisions about medical care should be between the parent, the child and a doctor. 

Jen Slipakoff, the parent of a transgender girl, spoke against the bill. 

"When my daughter first transitioned at school, my biggest fear was that she would be bullied by her classmates," she said. "I'm happy to report she has never been bullied by her classmates. That's not to say she doesn't have bullies. She does. They're in this room right now. They sponsored this bill, and they're the ones that are going to vote for it."

SB 140, which only restricts surgeries and hormone replacement therapies, passed the committee 10 to 4. It will now move to the Rules Committee, where lawmakers will decide if it makes it onto the Senate floor.

Dixon’s bill, SB 141, was not voted on. 

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke about transgender youth while visiting the Senate on Wednesday morning. She called on lawmakers to stop children from altering their bodies through surgeries.