Utah governor signs gender-affirming health care ban, school choice bills into law

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Saturday signed a invoice banning gender-affirming surgical procedure on minors who haven’t been recognized with gender dysphoria. 

The state’s Republican-dominated Legislature prioritized the ban and regarded a primary draft of the measure lower than 10 days in the past, two days after the Legislature opened this 12 months’s session Jan. 17. Gov. Cox signed it a day after the Legislature despatched it to his desk. 

The governor mentioned it was necessary to pause “these everlasting and life-altering therapies for brand spanking new sufferers till extra and higher analysis might help decide the long-term penalties.”

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“Whereas we perceive our phrases might be of little consolation to those that disagree with us, we sincerely hope that we are able to deal with our transgender households with extra love and respect as we work to higher perceive the science and penalties behind these procedures,” he mentioned.

Among the many critics is the ACLU of Utah, which on Friday urged Cox to veto the invoice.

In a letter to Cox, the civil rights group mentioned it was deeply involved about “the damaging and probably catastrophic results this regulation can have on individuals’s lives and medical care and the grave violations of individuals’s constitutional rights it should trigger.

“By slicing off medical therapy supported by each main medical affiliation in the USA, the invoice compromises the well being and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria. It ties the fingers of docs and fogeys by limiting entry to the one evidence-based therapy out there for this severe medical situation and impedes their means to satisfy their skilled obligations,” the letter mentioned.

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The invoice’s sponsor, state Sen. Mike Kennedy, a Republican household physician has mentioned authorities in a single day is important for very important well being care coverage associated to gender and youth. 

Individuals collect in help of transgender youth throughout a rally on the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Salt Lake Metropolis. 
(AP Picture/Rick Bowmer)

“Laws that impacts our most weak youth requires cautious consideration and deliberation. Whereas not an ideal invoice, we’re grateful for Sen. Kennedy’s extra nuanced and considerate method to this terribly divisive difficulty,” Cox mentioned in an announcement. 

“Increasingly specialists, states and nations all over the world are pausing these everlasting and life-altering therapies for brand spanking new sufferers till extra and higher analysis might help decide the long-term penalties.”

Utah’s invoice comes as lawmakers in no less than 18 states take into account comparable payments focusing on well being take care of younger transgender individuals.

Cox additionally signed one other measure that might give college students school-choice type scholarships to attend colleges exterior the general public schooling system. The invoice additionally elevated instructor pay and advantages in an effort to ease the state’s instructor scarcity.

The Related Press contributed to this report.