While some states have enacted laws that can punish health care professionals who provide gender-affirming treatment to minors with prison time, others have built in limited exceptions for minors to continue medication-based or nonsurgical forms of care, according to a CNN analysis of data from the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank that advocates for LGBTQ rights. These wide-ranging restrictions have created a complicated legal landscape for trans people to maneuver.
Unlike the other 18 states, Arizona, which prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for most minors, does not place restrictions on other gender-affirming care such as hormone treatments or puberty blockers. A record-year for anti-trans legislation heading into 2024 election All of the 19 states targeting gender-affirming care have state legislatures under Republican control, except for Nebraska’s, which is nonpartisan.