A number of organizations are criticizing two bills in the Kansas Legislature that would severely limit transgender Kansans freedom to access health care. House Bill 2791 would effectively ban access to gender-affirming medical care for trans people under 18 years old and restrict state employees from providing or promoting social transition or gender-affirming care to trans people under 18.
House Bill 2792 would effectively ban physicians, licensed by the Board of Health and Healing Arts, from providing “gender transition surgery” to trans people under 18. The ACLU of Kansas says not only do these bills discriminate by allowing non-transgender youth access to the same exact healthcare they are banning for trans youth, but they also violate parents’ rights and Kansans’ constitutional freedoms. Groups such as Equality Kansas, Kansas Interfaith Action, Loud Light Civic Action, Mainstream, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, and the group known as URGE…Unite for Reproduction and Gender Equity plan to testify at the hearings that will be held before the House Committee on Health and Human Services this Thursday, February 29th, at 1:30 this afternoon at the Statehouse.
