WV Delegates vote to remove exceptions for gender-affirming care for minors

Article owned and originally published by WDTV 5 News on Feb. 28, 2024.

Original Article

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - The West Virginia House of Delegates voted in favor of House Bill 5297, which seeks to remove established exceptions in existing state code that currently allow physicians to provide gender-affirming care to minors who meet certain criteria such as being diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria, or being at-risk for self-harm.

The bill will now head to the Senate for consideration.

The bill details what services and treatments physicians can offer people who are under 18 years of age, and the original legislation contains specifications on when and how doctors are allowed to provide hormone replacement therapy and other gender-affirming care to minors.

These provisions, which HB 5297 seeks to remove, only allow doctors to provide HRT and gender-affirming care when the adolescent meets the following criteria:

These criteria have been paraphrased for simplicity, explicit wording can be found in the bill itself, here.

• They have been diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by at least two medical or mental health providers who meet particular qualifications.

• The diagnosing medical professionals express in written opinions that gender affirming treatment is medically necessary to treat psychiatric symptoms and limit self-harm, or the possibility of self-harm, by the minor.

• The minor’s parents or legal guardians express their agreement with the treatments in writing.

• Any use of medication for gender-affirming purposes is limited to the lowest titratable dosage necessary to treat the psychiatric condition.

• Finally, if the minor is prepubescent, hormone treatment may not be provided

Officials with Fairness West Virginia, a statewide civil rights advocacy organization dedicated to fair treatment and civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer West Virginians, published a letter expressing opposition to the bill which garnered over 500 signatures from health care providers around West Virginia.

“Let’s be clear about what happened today,” said Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of Fairness West Virginia. “Our delegates voted to strip parents of their ability to get the medically-necessary, lifesaving care that more than 550 health care providers in West Virginia support. They told parents with transgender teens who are at serious risk of self-harm or suicide that they can’t get their kid the help that doctors say they need. I don’t understand how anyone could look at these families and tell them their child’s life doesn’t matter, but that’s what they did today with this vote.”