Oklahoma threatens to withhold Covid relief funds unless it stops transgender care for minors

Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday that will withhold Covid relief funds from one of the state's largest hospitals unless it stops providing gender-affirming medical care to minors.

The bill signed by the first-term Republican, which is up for re-election next month, authorizes more than $108 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for health services at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center.

The health system can only receive funds if it ceases all gender-affirming medical care on those under 18 years of age. Oklahoma Children's Hospital at OU Health currently offers medical services relating to gender identity for those up to age 24, including puberty blockers, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and help finding surgeons who perform gender-affirming surgeries, according to its website.

Stitt called for the GOP-controlled Legislature to ban some of those gender-affirming treatments when it returns in February, saying he wanted a prohibition on all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors.

Transgender medical treatment for children and teens is under attack in many Republican-led states, labeled as child abuse and subject to criminalizing bans. It has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.

Oklahoma s action came amid a spate of threats against doctors and institutions that provide medical care for transgender kids, with children s hospitals nationwide increasing security and working with law enforcement.

The OU Medical Center said in light of the legislation signed by Stitt, it had stopped hormone-related prescription therapies and surgical procedures for gender-affirming services on patients under 18 years old.

The OU Health Senior Leadership Team is planning the cessation of certain gender medicine services across our facilities and that plan is already under development, the hospital system said in a statement to news outlets.

According to The Oklahoman, about 100 children receive gender-affirming care at OU Children's last week, according to State Sen. Carri Hicks, a Democrat.

The parents of the children might have to travel to Kansas or Colorado to find care, the Washington Post reported.

Shane Poindexter said that his 14-year-old son attempted suicide before going to the OU Children's clinic where he has been receiving hormone suppressants for more than a year.

They can go anywhere and be accepted, and be who they are. Poindexter told the Washington Post that kids are bullies. It was mentally destroying him. The love and affection from that place is amazing. Civil rights groups denounced the governor and legislature for the new law.

Medical decisions belong to patients, their parents, and their doctors, said Tamya Cox-Toure, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. Politicians, attempting to appeal to their base during an election year, have continued their attacks on bodily autonomy by coming between those directly impacted and the care they need and deserve. Oklahoma could face a lawsuit over the bill. Federal and state laws prevent federally funded health programs from discriminating on the basis of sex. In court, the ACLU and other groups have successfully argued that Medicaid policies, for example, cannot bar coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender people if they provide them with hormone therapy, puberty blockers and double mastectomies to cisgender people to treat other conditions.

Oklahoma's Legislature targeted transgender young people earlier this year with new laws that restrict their ability to play sports or use school bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.