Last year, legislators passed a ban on gender surgery for minors, but wound up allowing treatment with medication under narrowly-tailored circumstances. They were acting on concern that some youths going through gender dysphoria may act on suicidal thoughts if they are barred from treatment of any kind.
Today, most members of the House Health Committee advanced a bill to strike those exceptions, which specifically relate to opinions by medical professionals and parents that a young patient might commit self-harm or hurt someone else without medicine.
House Bill 5297 was introduced just today and discussed by the committee for about 15 minutes before advancing the bill on a voice vote. The bill now goes to the full House. All of this happened shortly before this coming Wednesday’s “Crossover Day” deadline for bills to be passed from one chamber to the other.
No one, including physicians, testified about the bill’s reasons or effects.
Nobody on the House Health Committee explicitly spoke in favor of the bill.
The Fairness West Virginia organization put out a statement shortly after the committee meeting to blast the legislation.
“When we say that parental rights matter, that includes the right to fill your child’s prescriptions without 134 legislators standing in the way,” said Isabella Cortez, gender policy manager for Fairness West Virginia.
“Lawmakers have no business telling parents whether or not they can take their child to the doctor to receive medically-necessary, lifesaving treatment. This last-minute mad dash to eliminate this care is abhorrent.”
Last year’s bill, “Prohibiting certain medical practices,” focused on irreversible gender-affirming surgery, although physicians said that doesn’t happen with minors in West Virginia.
A revised version of that bill also included gender-altering medication. As debate unfolded in the Senate, debate focused on peer-reviewed medical studies concluding the use of medications in gender dysphoria can lower the risk of depression and suicide.
The Senate finally passed a version of the bill allowing treatment with medication if a minor has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by two doctors, if the doctors express written opinions that the treatment is medically necessary to limit self-harm or harm to others, if the minor and their parents or legal guardians agree, and if the medications are the lowest dose necessary.
The House Health bill strikes out those exceptions.
Delegate Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, spoke against further restrictions.
“I think our ultimate goal is the prevention of suicide. I also think it’s important, and it has been a topic of debate, of allowing parents to be able to guide children’s medical care, to decide what’s best with their children,” Hamilton said.
“Preventing this type of care has shown to increase anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations, even psychological distress — so being able to provide them with a level of treatment that will prevent these type of medical illnesses in our children is so important for us to do.”
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, proposed an amendment to allow minors who are already using medication related to gender dysphoria to continue having it prescribed.
“For the government to come in and just kick somebody off of this — come in between them and their physician and their parents and say ‘We know best; this is not for you’ — it can be incredibly detrimental,” Pushkin said.
His proposed amendment was defeated 8-11.
As the meeting concluded, Pushkin made a motion to bring up and consider a resolution that, if advanced by the full Legislature, would have opened up West Virginia’s abortion and fertility treatment policies to a vote by the citizens.
That motion was defeated 3-16.
The committee then adjourned.