Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed a bill that blocks Oklahoma University Children’s Hospital from receiving federal pandemic relief money unless it stops performing “gender-affirming” treatment on children.
Specifically, the law defines this type of treatment as “any healthcare to facilitate the transitioning of a patient’s assigned gender identity on the patient’s birth certificate, to the gender identity experienced and defined by the patient.” That doesn’t include mental or behavioral health counseling, or medication to treat depression or anxiety, according to the law’s language.
Stitt said in a Tuesday statement that this law is meant to prevent tax money from being used to fund irreversible procedures on healthy children.
“It is wildly inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used for condoning, promoting, or performing these types of controversial procedures on healthy children,” the Republican governor said. “We cannot turn a blind eye to what’s happening all across our nation, and as governor I will not allow life-altering transition surgeries on minor children in the state of Oklahoma.”
On Sept. 27, two days before the bill passed Oklahoma’s Republican-led legislature in a special session, OU Health said it would stop providing what it called “gender-confirming care” for children. Stitt said this was not enough, and wanted lawmakers to craft another bill that would ban such treatment on minors across the state.
“I am calling for the legislature to ban all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors when they convene next session in February 2023,” said Stitt, who is running for reelection this November.
Some Republican lawmakers agreed with Stitt, saying that the new law doesn’t go far enough.
Pediatric Professionals Seek Federal Intervention
The law’s enactment came the day after the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and Children’s Hospital Association sent a letter (pdf) to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking the federal government to step in to handle alleged “threats” and “harassment” over the “gender-affirming healthcare” they provide.“From Boston to Akron, [Ohio], to Nashville, [Tennessee], to Seattle, children’s hospitals, academic health systems, and physicians are being targeted and threatened for providing evidence-based healthcare,” the letter read. “These attacks have not only made it difficult and dangerous for institutions and practices to provide this care, [but] they have also disrupted many other services to families seeking care.”
“Our organizations have called on technology companies to do more to prevent this practice on digital platforms, and we now urge your office to take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities responsible,” the groups wrote.
