Best of: The state of gender-affirming care
A supporter for the transgender community holds a trans flag in front of counter-protesters to protect attendees from their insults and obscenities at the city's Gay Pride Festival in Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019. AP Photo/Robin Rayne
In February 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas), issued a directive that would classify gender-affirming care for trans kids as “child abuse.” Medical professionals and LGBTQ advocates worry about the ripple effect of this order on Texans, and the harm it could pose to trans youth and their families. Here in Illinois, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago provides gender-affirming care through its gender development program. Earlier this month, the hospital released a statement in response to the Texas Governor, titled “Gender Affirming Care is Healthcare, not Child Abuse.”
To talk about the state of gender-affirming care and how the directive in Texas could have effects elsewhere in the United States, we were joined by a Texas journalist who's been following the story, as well as a doctor who works in the Lurie Children's Hospital's Gender Development Program.
This conversation originally aired March 21, 2022.
GUESTS:
Elena Rivera
Health Reporter, KERA, Dallas
Dr. Lisa Simons
Attending Physician in Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Gender development program, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago | Assistant professor of pediatrics in adolescent medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Trans kids across Texas are anxious as a legal battle plays out that could determine whether their parents can be prosecuted for providing them gender-affirming medical care. But there's help available. @elenaiswriting https://t.co/r7JhAaZGrx
— KERA News (@keranews) March 18, 2022
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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