Raft of US state laws restrict access to treatments for gender dysphoria

Tennessee has joined a growing list of US states that have passed laws restricting physicians from administering what are known as “gender affirming” treatments to minors.

The laws prohibit the prescribing of drugs to suppress puberty, such as gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogueues and cross-sex hormones, in patients under 18 as well as all related surgeries for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria.

The Tennessee law1 goes further by terminating treatment by 31 March 2024 for young people currently receiving drugs, which advocates have lambasted as forcing children to medically detransition.2

Mississippi’s governor signed a similar bill on 28 February. In addition to dictating care, it also makes it a crime to “knowingly engage in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of gender transition procedures” …