In April, 2026, the Hawaii legislature passed legislation to expand their shield law to protect both gender affirming and reproductive care. On May 29, 2026, Governor Josh Green, M.D. signed HB 1875 into law.
Hawai’i has joined fourteen other states plus the District of Columbia with shield laws in place. 3 additional states have executive orders protecting gender affirming care.
See the Movement Advancement Project Shield State page for up to date information.
As of June 5, 2026, the shield states re:
- Washington (a QueerDoc state!)
- Oregon (a QueerDoc state!)
- California (a QueerDoc state!)
- Hawaii (a QueerDoc state!)
- Colorado
- New Mexico
- Minnesota
- Illinois
- New York
- Vermont
- Maine
- Massachussets
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- Maryland
- Washington, D. C.
- Arizona (executive order)
- New Jersey (executive order)
- Delaware (executive order)
What Is A Shield State?
Each state’s shield law is slightly different. Shield laws protect access to gender affirming care for patients and protect providers from subpoenas and lawsuits. The Movement Advancement Project links to each state’s law.
Shield states have laws or executive orders in place that protect patients who live in states with healthcare bans but who travel to receive that care from prosecution or investigation about the care received in the shield state. These laws also protect the clinicians who provide care, and patients who reside in and receive care in those states.
Commonly, a shield law will:
- Set the policy that the state will not comply with court subpoenas from out of state for information about gender affirming care happening inside the state.
- This may apply to custody investigations and civil or criminal prosecution.
- If a provider loses their medical license in a ban state for providing banned care, a shield law may protect them from losing their licensing in the shield state.
- The shield law may also apply to reproductive health medicine.
What Have We Written About Shield States?
Read our previous blogs!
- Youth Care Yes (Shield) States and Avoid (Ban) States – Oct 2025
- Deep Dive Into Oregon’s Shield Law – You’re Protected! (April 2025)
- Washington State is Safe(r) With Shield Laws
- February 2024: What’s a Shield State, and How Do I Get One?
- Celebrate Good News For Youth in California, Hawaii, and Washington
Where Can I Find Other Information About Hawaii’s Shield Law?
We’ll be working on a write-up to be added to this page soon.
Erin In The Morning published an article on June 5, 2026 about Hawaii’s shield law:
“Shield laws create “legal protections for patients, health care providers, and people assisting in the provision of certain health care in states where that care is legal from the reach of states with civil, criminal, and professional consequences related to that care,” according to the Center for Reproductive Health, Law and Policy at UCLA. For example, it means Hawai’i state actors may not aid out-of-state attacks—such as, say, through the extradition of health care providers—over lawful care rendered in Hawai’i.
“The legislature finds that the people of Hawai’i have a long tradition of protecting an individual’s right to privacy and bodily autonomy independently of, and more broadly than, the United States Constitution,” the bill reads. It emphasized that the right to privacy and bodily autonomy extends to minors.
‘It is the policy of this State that the rights of equality, liberty, and privacy guaranteed under […] the Hawaii State Constitution are fundamental rights and that those rights include an individual’s right to make health care decisions about one’s own body, including the right to seek and receive health care services that affirm their expressed gender.’”
The official state summary of the law is:
“Expands the protections established under Act 2, SLH 2023, to include gender-affirming health care services, including clarifying permitted disclosures of protected health information to address changes in federal regulations. Establishes protections against abusive litigation. Prohibits medical malpractice insurers and health carriers from taking certain adverse actions against health care providers solely on the basis that the health care provider provides lawful reproductive health care services or gender-affirming health care services.”
What Services Does QueerDoc Provide in Hawai’i?
We see youth and adults in Hawaii.
Hawai’i state regulations require an in-person visit for each testosterone prescription. We are sad to announce that as of September, 2024, we are not able to continue prescribing testosterone in Hawai’i. While it has been a privilege to provide care for people seeking testosterone in Hawai’i, our current volume of work there does not support the cost of travel.
We continue to see patients interested in other medications, including puberty blockers, estrogen, bicalutamide, raloxifene, spironolactone, dutasteride, finasteride, and contraceptives.
