Gender-affirming care options vary by age. While changes to pronouns, hairstyle, clothing, and/or a person’s name can be appropriate for younger children, other gender-affirming treatments are not standard of care until the patient is older. For example, hormonal and surgical interventions only become an option for people of certain ages and stages of development.
Some states have recently passed laws that restrict or inhibit all forms of gender-affirming care in minors, even if the parents/guardians and the minor consents, and the minor’s professional healthcare team supports the decision. Some of these bans are now even being expanded to adults.
Bans on gender-affirming care contradict the positions of leading medical and mental health associations, which recognize the medical necessity of treatments for gender dysphoria. This includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, Endocrine Society, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, World Medical Association, and many more. (https://transhealthproject.org/resources/medical-organization-statements).
