Last night, President Trump signed an Executive Order claiming that the Administration has plans to ban access to gender affirming care for young people under the age of 19. There is a 60-day implementation plan. Dr. Meera Shah, family medicine physician in New York and Board Member with Physicians for Reproductive Health responds:
“As a physician who provides gender affirming care and sees every day how essential, safe, and lifesaving this health care is for people of all ages, I am severely concerned that the Trump Administration is releasing an Executive Order aiming to misinform, confuse, and ostracize people who need gender affirming care. We know that Executive Orders are not directives, but instead are intended plans, and these plans are rooted in lies about the evidence-based, safe health care me and my colleagues are proud to provide.
Young people, with the support of their families and loved ones, should be trusted to make informed decisions about their health care and bodily autonomy
“Young people, with the support of their families and loved ones, should be trusted to make informed decisions about their health care and bodily autonomy. Young people, just like people of all ages, are deserving of trust, care, attention, and respect, especially when navigating health care decisions.
“As health care providers, it is our duty to provide these young folks with affirming care that centers and uplifts who they are.
“Gender affirming care is lifesaving. Over the last several years, the uptick in restrictions on reproductive rights and anti-trans legislation and policies has led to an increase in the normalization of anti-trans sentiment. All of this, the restricting of access to care and the stigmatization of gender diverse young people, is medically and socially dangerous. These stigmatizing attacks directly lead to an increase in hate, in violence, in criminalization, and in people not getting the safe health care they need. These impacts will be felt most heavily by Black, Brown, and Indigenous young people of color, immigrants, and young people with other marginalized identities under attack by this Administration.
“Queer people have always existed and will always exist. An Executive Order laden with disinformation about the health care needs of trans and gender diverse people is not going to change that. This Administration is not going to change that.
This Executive Order is not currently in effect, and we will keep providing this care and patients should continue to show up for their appointments.
“If we don’t stay resolute in this fight, as health care providers and as community members, then we are indirectly enabling these policies aimed to make all of us feel confused, overwhelmed, and small. This Executive Order is not currently in effect, and we will keep providing this care and patients should continue to show up for their appointments. We know our legal partners are ready to push back against this dangerous and unlawful plan to ban care. Institutions and health care providers across the country should be ever committed to showing up for the needs of the patients they care for, especially those at the center of the Trump Administration’s attacks, like transgender youth. We are here with you. We see you. And we are not going anywhere no matter what happens.”