EDIT Sunday 1/29/23 Yesterday Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 16 into law. It goes into effect immediately.
EDIT Friday 1/27/2023: SB16 has passed both the Utah House and Senate and is headed to the governor’s desk for signing. Please contact Governor Spencer Cox via https://cs.utah.gov/s/submit.
You can use our suggested text:
SB 16 will interfere with families making private medical decisions with their trusted medical providers.
The bill, as written, creates barriers to care for youth and families in Utah and increases administrative burdens on providers. The current standards of care for transgender youth fully support initiation of hormone treatment when indicated and are agreed upon by 29 major medical organizations and associations, including:
American Academy of Pediatrics
The Endocrine Society
The Pediatric Endocrine Society
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Academy of Family Physicians
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Physicians
American Medical Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Public Health Association
World Professional Association For Transgender Health
The body of evidence supporting gender affirming care for youth with gender dysphoria is strong and growing. The assertions that gender affirming care is extreme, rushed, not well understood by those who seek it, or that there is a high rate of regret are scientifically unsupported and simply untrue. While there is growing interest in initializing gender affirming care for youth, genital surgeries remain unavailable before the age of 18. Some transgender youth are able to obtain mastectomies and mammoplasties, but so are cisgender youth.
Proposed bill SB 16 prohibiting gender affirming treatment and procedures will harm Utah youth. While I support continuing medical education and high-quality evidence reviews, it is unrealistic to expect that all of the following can be completed by July 1, 2023:
- a review and recommendations for the medical treatment of transgender youth
- as well as a new professional certification created and available for application
- 40 hours of medical education is approved and available for professionals
- professionals are able to complete 40 hours of medical education to satisfy the conditions of the certification.
This is a poorly disguised attempt to prevent life-saving care by increasing administrative requirements and costs for medical providers and families. This is especially true when most well-regarded medical organizations and associations have already done these reviews and concluded that gender affirming care is the best medical practice.
I urge you not to sign SB 16.
Three bills targeting trans youth are proposed in the Utah legislature right now. One, SB 16, passed the Utah Senate this week, and is being fast-tracked through the legislature. SB 16 prohibits gender affirming care for youth, including hormones, blockers, and surgeries, and would go into effect immediately. Utah’s governor has indicated that he will sign the bill should it arrive on his desk. Skip to the “Call to Action” section if you don’t want to read the details of the bill.
Utah SB 16 (full text here) would:
- allow continuing treatment for minors who have started gender affirming medical care by May 3, 2023.
- require the Department of Health and Human Services/the University of Utah to conduct a review of the “medical evidence regarding hormonal transgender treatments and provide recommendations to the Legislature.”
By July 1, 2023:
- require the Division of Professional Licensing to create “a certification for providing hormonal transgender treatments” by July 1, 2023
- “requires a health care provider to complete 40 hours of education in gender affirming care with renewals requiring 20 hours of continuing medical education in gender affirming care for minors
Utah SB 16 also creates several barriers to care by:
- providers are directed to consider treating “other physical or mental health conditions” prior to treating gender dysphoria if the other treatments would provide the best long-term outcome
- document this and the presence of a gender dysphoria diagnosis lasting at least six months, as well as the assertion that gender affirming treatment “will likely result in the best long-term outcome”
- obtain written consent from
- the minor
- the minor’s parent or guardian unless emancipated
- document that risks have been discussed with the minor along with
- the minor’s expectations of treatment
- the likelihood that these expectations will be met
- document that risks have been been discussed with the parent or legal guardian, along with
- the minor’s expectations of treatment
- the likelihood that these expectations will be met
- obtain a mental heath evaluation of the minor
- done by a mental health professional who has obtained certification
- that the minor has gender dysphoria according to the DSM V (NOT THE DSM-V-TR)
- that at least three therapy sessions have been held
- document “all of the minor’s mental health diagnoses and any significant life events that may be contributing to the diagnoses”
As of January 1, 2024:
- providing gender affirming care without certification is considered unprofessional conduct (this puts a provider’s license in jeopardy)
- minors may not obtain hormones without an established diagnosis of gender dysphoria with a duration of at least six months
- prohibits providers from providing hormones to individuals who had not already started hormones by May 3, 2023.
- prohibits gender affirming surgeries for minors
- allows an individual to sue for medical malpractice for hormone prescriptions
- extends the length of time that medical malpractice suits for gender affirming care may be claimed
Call to action
SB 16 has a hearing in the Utah House on January 24th at 2pm. There is a rally at the capitol at 1pm.
The Utah ACLU is sponsoring a letter writing campaign.
You can also contact representatives directly in the Utah House here.
SB 16 assumes that the medical evidence review will rely heavily on the same outdated and misrepresented arguments seen in Florida and several other states. Should this bill become law, we must demand that the Utah Department of Health and Human Resources and the University of Utah perform a rigorous and unbiased literature review and require that the process is transparent.
We provide gender affirming care for youth and adults in Utah, including prescriptions for hormones (estradiol, testosterone, progesterone,) blockers, antiandrogens (including bicalutamide,) and SERMs. We will continue to do so as long as we are legally able to do so.
Below is our letter text first drafted as a response to actions in Florida that would ban gender affirming care for youth. We’ve edited it for applicability in Utah (and Montana.) Please feel free to edit for your own use when contacting Utah. Remember that although personal details are required and may become a part of the public record when you send a letter to a legislator, you do not have to use your real name.
See our original Florida letter text for citations of major articles about gender affirming care for youth.
I urge you to vote no on SB 16, which would interfere with families making private medical decisions with their trusted medical providers.
The bill as written increases administrative work and barriers to care for youth and families in Utah. The current standards of care for transgender youth fully support initiation of hormone treatment when indicated and are agreed upon by 29 major medical organizations and associations, including:
American Academy of Pediatrics
The Endocrine Society
The Pediatric Endocrine Society
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Academy of Family Physicians
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Physicians
American Medical Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Public Health Association
World Professional Association For Transgender Health
The body of evidence supporting gender affirming care for youth with gender dysphoria is strong and growing. The assertion that gender affirming care is extreme, rushed, is not well understood by those who seek it, or that there is a high rate of regret is scientifically unsupported and simply untrue. While there is growing interest in initializing gender affirming care for youth, genital surgeries remain unavailable before the age of 18. Some transgender youth are able to obtain mastectomies and mammoplasties, but so do cisgender youth.
Proposed bill SB 16 prohibiting gender affirming treatment and procedures will harm Utah youth. While I support continuing medical education and high-quality evidence reviews, it is unrealistic to expect that all of the following can be completed by July 1, 2023:
- a review and recommendations for the medical treatment of transgender youth
- as well as a new professional certification created and available for application
- 40 hours of medical education is approved and available for professionals
- professionals are able to complete 40 hours of medical education to satisfy the conditions of the certification.
This is a poorly disguised attempt to prevent life-saving care by increasing administrative requirements and costs for medical providers and families. This is especially true when most well-regarded medical organizations and associations have already done these reviews and concluded that gender affirming care is the best medical practice.
I urge you to vote no on SB 16.
