AMA strengthens stance on transgender care restrictions
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Physicians and medical students at the AMA’s House of Delegates meeting voted to expand the association’s opposition to restrictions on transgender medical care.
“The AMA opposes the dangerous intrusion of government into the practice of medicine and the criminalization of health care decision-making,” AMA Board Member Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, said in a press release. “Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that improves the physical and mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people.”
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This year, legislatures in 20 states proposed banning health care providers from delivering medically necessary gender-affirming care to transgender and gender-diverse minors, according to the AMA.
In April, Arkansas became the first state to outlaw any gender-affirming medical treatments for these patients, overriding a veto from the governor. Shortly after, the AMA sent a letter to the National Governors Association, “urging its members to oppose legislative dictates that inappropriately limit the range of options physicians and families may consider when making decisions for gender-diverse pediatric patients,” the AMA said in the press release. In the letter, the AMA cited evidence showing that as many as 41.5% of transgender individuals have a mental health diagnosis or substance use disorder. The higher prevalence of these conditions “is widely thought to be a consequence of minority stress, the chronic stress from coping with societal stigma, and discrimination because of one’s gender identity and expression,” the AMA wrote. Other evidence shows that gender-affirming care improves mental health and reduces the risk for suicide among transgender and gender-diverse patients, according to the AMA.
The AMA said in the press release that it will “continue to work to ensure transgender and gender-diverse minors have the opportunity to explore their gender identity under the safe and supportive care of a physician.”
References:
AMA. Letter to the National Governors Association. Available at: https://searchlf.ama-assn.org/letter/documentDownload?uri=%2Funstructured%2Fbinary%2Fletter%2FLETTERS%2F2021-4-26-Bill-McBride-opposing-anti-trans-bills-Final.pdf. Accessed June 16, 2021.
AMA. AMA reinforces opposition to restrictions on transgender medical care. Available at: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-reinforces-opposition-restrictions-transgender-medical-care. Accessed June 16, 2021.
Perspective
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Janet Y. Lee, MD, MPH, MAS
The current efforts to restrict gender-affirming care, particularly in youth, are alarming and potentially life-threatening to transgender and gender-diverse individuals. It is disheartening that politicians are trying to interfere with evidence-based medical practices that are supported by major professional societies such as The Endocrine Society, Pediatric Endocrine Society, World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
I am glad to see the AMA has joined with the multitude of professional organizations who have also opposed restrictions to gender-affirming care.
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