Some providers are dropping gender-affirming care for kids even in cases where it’s legal

By JIM SALTER and GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Some medical providers are dropping continuing gender-affirming care for minors, even though it remains legal. In Missouri and North Dakota, health systems and advocates say the reason is the possibility of legal action against doctors and their employers for injuries related to the treatment, even many years later. At least 22 states have enacted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors in the past few years. Some of them allow puberty blockers and hormone therapy to continue for children who have already started it. Parents of transgender children say the restrictions deny important health care that improves their kids’ lives.