Editor’s note: This story was published a few hours earlier an Ohio court has issued a transient restraining order halting a statewide ban on health care for transgender youth.
During a public hearing Monday afternoon, members of the state regulatory commission approved two recent administrative rules limiting transgender youth’s access to health care statewide.
Earlier this year, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine proposed a set of proposed administrative regulations after vetoing Republican-led House Bill (HB) 68 – a near-total ban on health care for transgender people under 18including some types of family counseling and talk therapy.
Just days after DeWine announced his veto, Republican lawmakers returned early from their winter break to replace the governor.
With HB 68 set to take effect on April 24, members Joint Committee on the Review of Agency Rules (JCARR) – a bipartisan commission charged with reviewing recent, amended and repealed rules from more than 100 state agencies to ensure proper compliance – approved two parts of revised Ohio Department of Health (ODH) rules.further limiting transgender youth’s access to health care.
Approval of recent regulations for transgender youth
JCARR members voted to adopt two of the ODH package of five principles:
- Rule 3701-59-06: Hospital quality standards for sex reassignment surgery and genital sex reassignment surgery in minors.
- Rule 3701-83-60: Health care facility quality standards for sex reassignment surgery and genital sex reassignment surgery for minors.
These two laws codify a blanket ban on gender-affirming surgical procedures for transgender minors that: Ohio Children’s Hospital Association (OCHA) have testified repeatedly, are not currently performed in any licensed hospital or medical facility anywhere in the state.
Additionally, the regulations prohibit both direct and indirect referrals of minors to surgical care, which includes conversations between patients and providers that “in any way [facilitate] such care in another facility or [provide] any resources or information about where and how to obtain such care.”
Doctors and other health care workers have testified that the rule could leave teenage transgender people with unsafe gaps in care.
Although no licensed hospitals or medical facilities in Ohio perform gender-affirming surgery on minors, transgender youth do receive direct or indirect referrals for gender-affirming surgery from their health care providers before the age of 18.
Under HB 68, a physician could face sanctions for “conduct that aids and abets” certain types of health care for transgender youth — including writing prescriptions for puberty-blocking drugs and hormone replacement therapy or making direct or indirect referrals to health care providers outside the border country to obtain gender-affirming care from Ohio.
Often, consultations regarding gender-affirming surgical procedures are scheduled months or even years in advance based on a referral from the patient’s primary care physician.
Without access to referrals for appointments in their teens, teenage transgender people may face disruptions in pursuing personalized health care plans developed by their medical teams, even after they reach adulthood.
Reporting health records of transgender Ohioans
In a last-minute change, a third proposed administrative rule requiring health care providers to report “de-identified” medical information of transgender patients directly to the state was removed from the hearing agenda at the request of ODH.
Rule 3701-3-17 – which is expected to be re-filed, likely after additional public hearings – will require health care providers to report transgender patients’ medical information directly to state agencies every 30 days. The rule also requires that transgender patient data be made available directly to lawmakers every six months.
If approved, the rule would include tracking of transgender patients under the same rules administrative codes that regulate the collection of public health data on infectious diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, measles, plague, rabies, hepatitis A and syphilis.
Buckeye Flame Could not find any other cases in which state agencies collect or report patients’ health information based on their gender identity.
Transgender Ohioans and Democratic leaders oppose the recent rules
Hundreds of doctors, health care providers and medical researchers – including representatives of the Ohio Psychological Association – do just that he testified against the regulationsciting concerns about safety, privacy, medical violence and LGBTQ+ discrimination.
“One of the most important problems is the so-called Ohio Psychological Association (OPA) associated with this package of regulations are reporting requirements,” a representative said at an ODH public hearing last month, telling lawmakers the rule could have a “chilling effect.”
In two separate public hearings, legal and medical experts briefed the ODH and ODH Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) this rule could incite fear, harm doctor-patient relationships, and even prevent mental health care providers from fully offering care to transgender patients.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) condemned the passage of the legislation.
“Passing this legislation is unnecessary, misleading and will drive young people and businesses out of our state,” Antonio said in a statement. “Ohio cannot be a truly welcoming state if we continue to stigmatize marginalized Ohioans and deny families the right to make their own health care decisions.”
What happens then?
Ohio is also set to ban the employ of puberty-suppressing drugs and hormone replacement therapies for transgender youth under HB 68, rejecting the general medical consensus of hundreds of thousands of doctors and health care professionals, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Ohio families with transgender children, hoping to stop the legislation from going into effect on April 24.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ nonprofits and social networks have established emergency funds to support families cover moving expenses before transgender minors lose access to health care.
JCARR members are scheduled for the next meeting May 13. 🔥
START ACTION
- To apply for financial assistance through the TransOhio Emergency Fund (including insurance, travel, housing, moving costs and more), click here.
- To donate to the TransOhio emergency fund, click here.
- If you are an LGBTQ+ teenage person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are an LGBTQ+ adult in need of immediate assistance, please contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
- To access the full transgender legislation tracker, click here.
