Health centers have recently found themselves entangled in the broader national debate over gender-affirming care.
In May, U.S. Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) initiated an investigation into federally funded health centers performing gender-affirming care on minors, labeling these procedures as dangerous, ideological, and unscientific. Cassidy also demanded, among other information from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a list of health centers that provide these services.
Then, just last week in a recent issue of the Federal Register, HRSA announced that it is proposing a new question to the Uniform Data System (UDS) “addressing the provision of sex-rejecting services and procedures in health centers.” This is part of an annual review of UDS questions.
The proposed question reads:
- For individuals under 19 years of age, does your health center provide services that use puberty blockers, sex hormones, or surgical procedures for the purpose of transforming their physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from their sex?
- It further notes that “Puberty blockers may include GnRH agonists and other interventions, to delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual. Sex hormones may include androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone. Surgical procedures may include alteration or removal of an individual’s sex organs.
Here are important things to know about health centers regarding gender-affirming care:
- Health centers are not surgical centers and therefore do not provide gender-transition surgeries.
- A law passed in Tennessee in 2023 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court bans healthcare providers from gender-affirming care to minors.
- Subsequent laws passed in Tennessee preserve the right of transgender minors to pursue mental health care.
As the debate over gender-affirming care continues, it’s important that we set the record straight about what health centers in Tennessee and nationally do and don’t do. Learn more about gender-affirming care laws in Tennessee and how they impact our state’s health centers.
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