NEWS
Idaho panel approves a bill that would make medical care for trans youth a felony Committee heard from out-of-state witnesses, trans kids and adults, and parents
to provide gender-affirming hormone therapies and surgical interventions. The bill is also supported by Blaine Conzatti, Republican lawmakers in an Idaho Family Policy Center Idaho House committee voted president and lobbyist. Feb. 7 to restrict the rights of According to the American parents to decide on, and physi- Academy of Pediatrics, the stancians to provide, medical care dard of gender-affirming care for transgender Idahoans under for transgender children and age 18. teens includes “social affirmaThe Idaho House Judiciary, tion” as the person begins to Rules and Administration com- dress, use pronouns and make mittee voted 14-3 along party other changes associated with lines to send the bill to the gender. Trans youth also may House with a “do pass” recom- need mental health care. For mendation. That sets it up for some, medical care also may consideration and a vote on the include surgeries, hormones or House floor in the coming days “puberty blockers” that hold off of the legislative session. the physical changes of puberty, House Bill 71 makes it a fel- such as facial hair growth and ony to provide gender-affirming breast development. care, a crime punishable by up Parents of Idaho transgender to 10 years in prison. It aligns children, doctors, mental health the medical treatments with care providers, residents and female genital mutilation — in at least one transgender teen which a girl must have her clito- lined up to give testimony for ris and other parts of her vulva two hours leading up to the removed as part of a ritual. committee’s debate and vote on Some who testified, and the bill. some committee members The list of people who themselves, noted that the wanted to testify was so long, votes conflict with the GOP it would have taken days to get lawmakers’ longtime support through everyone, said Rep. for parental rights and medical Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, freedom — on issues such as who chaired the committee’s immunizations, hearing. child protecEve Devitt, “If you care about the tion and child 17, is a transrights for parents to choose welfare cases, gender girl what is right for their kids, sex education, whose medical like you stated you did just care would be masks and Idaearlier today, then you will affected by the ho’s statutory protection for vote against this bill.” bill, she said. the practice of Devitt also — Eve Devitt, in testimony to “faith healing.” the Idaho House Judiciary, Rules and testified in the The bill, Administration Committee on Feb. 7 2022 legislative brought forward session against by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nama similar bill that Skaug sponpa — and co-sponsored by Sen. sored then. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridi“Since I started estrogen an — would make it a felony almost three whole years ago, By Audrey Dutton Idaho Capital Sun
my mental health has gotten significantly better,” Devitt told the committee Feb. 7. “I’ve been able to get myself off of a cliff that I wasn’t sure if I would ever find myself off of. I feel so much better and more complete with myself. In less than 24 hours, I will be going on a plane to go to a consultation for SRS — or sexual reassignment surgery — which is planned to be taking place in a little over a year. I see this as my final step into the body that I should have been born into. This bill threatens to not only bar me from receiving this care, but also from accessing the hormones that have single handedly not only improved but saved my life.” Several people who testified pointed out the conflict between the bill and the GOP lawmakers’ statements of support for parental rights and medical freedom. So, too, did members of the committee. Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, told the committee that he believed the legislation is emblematic of a crisis in American democracy. “It is really hard for the public to trust us when we use our principles and we follow them selectively,” Mathias said. “… I’m afraid if we pass this bill, it is going to further undermine the public’s trust in us.” Rep. David Cannon, R-Blackfoot, said he was grappling with the inconsistencies as well. “The criticism that we, who talk about leaving decisions up to families and parents, I mean, that hits home, and I don’t know exactly what to do with that,” Cannon said. “But in the end, you know, you got to go
Eve Devitt, 17, speaks to the Idaho House Judiwith your gut, and I am going ciary, Rules and Administration committee on to support this today.” Feb. 7. Screenshot courtesy Idaho In Session. Cannon voted to advance the bill. bounds and the limits of that So did Rep. Julianne Young, particular principle, because R-Blackfoot. She explained to all of these principles come the committee why she beinto conflict with each other at lieved it should pass. some time or another. So, just “As a mom, and somebody for what it’s worth, for me as a who’s the biggest mama bear in mom, as I weigh this issue, realthe building when my kids are ly that’s what it comes down to around, we do set some limits for me, is determining what are on parental rights,” Young said. the appropriate bounds and lim“And I think, ultimately, that’s its of that parental authority.” the question that this commitThis story was produced by tee is struggling with.” Boise-based nonprofit news Idaho law says that some outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, choices are abusive or inapwhich is part of the States propriate, “even for a parent,” Newsroom nationwide reportYoung said. “… It’s not that ing project. For more informawe’re being selective; it’s that tion, visit idahocapitalsun.com. we’re trying to identify the
MORE FROM THE HEARING Several health care providers testified to the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee on Feb. 7. They included Idaho providers who both opposed and supported the bill. The Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, which represents hundreds of Idaho doctors, opposes the bill, according to testimony. Several health care provid-
ers from other states offered their opinions — including an ear-nose-throat physician from Missouri, a Tennessee child and adolescent psychiatrist who has weighed in on other states’ transgender-care legislation; and a doctor from Georgia who was “discredited as an expert” on trans health care in a 2020 court ruling, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. February 9, 2023 /
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