PRH Statement to Senate HELP Committee on Gender-Affirming Care
PRH urges Congress to protect evidence-based gender-affirming care for trans youth, families, and providers.
WHY THIS MATTERS
On June 3, 2026, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) convened a hearing focused on access to gender-affirming health care for young people. Physicians for Reproductive Health submitted a written statement for the record to the committee.
Gender-affirming health care is being misrepresented and politicized at the federal and state levels, even though major medical organizations support this care and physicians provide it according to evidence-based standards. Our statement makes clear that restrictions on gender-affirming care do not protect young people; they interfere with medical judgment, disrupt patient-provider relationships, and deny transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse youth access to compassionate care.
These restrictions also harm families, physicians, and health systems. When care is banned, delayed, or criminalized, young people may lose access to medically necessary support, families are forced to navigate fear and uncertainty, and providers face moral distress, legal threats, and pressure to abandon best-practice care.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Gender-affirming care is evidence-based health care. This care is supported by major medical organizations and grounded in decades of clinical experience and peer-reviewed research.
- Restrictions harm young people instead of protecting them. Denying or delaying care can worsen mental health outcomes for transgender youth, including depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.
- Families are already part of the care process. For patients under 18, gender-affirming care includes counseling, informed consent, safeguards, and family involvement under established medical guidelines.
- Bans interfere with physicians’ medical judgment. Lawmakers should not override providers’ expertise or force physicians to deny care that meets evidence-based standards.
- Criminalization threatens the broader health care system. Policies targeting gender-affirming care can create fear, overcompliance, workforce strain, and reduced access to care for all patients.