Last year, lawmakers approved the Reproductive Health Protection Act. This law exempts Maryland health care providers from liability if they assist an out-of-state patient with an abortion, as long as the services provided are legal under Maryland law.
But some states are working toward banning certain procedures, especially for young transgender residents, and a 2024 bill in Congress would extend those protections to gender-affirming care providers. .
“Women’s rights and transgender justice run parallel in the fight for bodily autonomy,” Jamie Grace Alexander of the Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition sponsored Senate Bill 119 in the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. It is a struggle and its protection requires a clear understanding.”
Sen. Clarence K. Lamb (D-Howard, Anne Arundel) is the bill’s lead sponsor. He is a physician and serves on the Senate Finance Committee.
Secretary Lamb said the bill would ensure that “Marylanders will not be extradited to another state or have their medical records subpoenaed for receiving, providing, or assisting in gender-affirming care.” He said it would be done.
Gender-affirming care refers to a number of procedures and treatments to support and affirm a person’s gender identity, including hormone therapy, voice training, surgical modification, and other medical services, under Maryland’s health care law. point.
According to 2022 estimates from the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, there are approximately 8,000 minors and 24,000 adults 18 and older who identify as transgender in Maryland. .
Nearly 20 states have banned doctors from providing gender-affirming care to minors, according to data from the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit progressive think tank that maps LGBTQ+ policies across the country. It is reported that there are. This includes Maryland’s neighboring state of West Virginia.
However, 11 states have enacted “shield” laws to protect access to gender-affirming care, and Maryland is one of three states with executive orders to achieve that goal. It is one.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) issued an executive order in June declaring that state officials will not cooperate with out-of-state lawsuits if someone seeks gender-affirming care in Maryland. But advocates for transgender Marylanders are asking lawmakers to pass SB 119 to ensure gender-affirming care is protected by law.
“The LGBTQ+ community is under siege in our country, no more so than those in the transgender community,” Lamb said. “Like the bans on abortion and other reproductive health services, many of these bans are used here in Maryland to harass gender-affirming patients and to target the licensing of health care providers. It is structured in a possible way.”
Although most testimony was in favor of the bill, the Senate committee heard a small number of witnesses opposing the bill, primarily related to minors in gender-affirming care.
Jonathan M. Alexander, legislative counsel for the Maryland Institute for Family Studies, said conservative Christian advocacy groups opposed the bill, which he said would “not allow any underage transgender performer in the state.” “We are trying to provide a get-out-of-jail-free card to those who are arrested.”
Sen. Justin Ready (R-Carroll, Frederick) asked whether the bill had provisions for minors seeking gender-affirming care. Lam said the Reproductive Health Protection Act of 2022 does not provide an exception for minors, and SB 119 does not.
“This bill simply extends the same protections for abortion care to gender-affirming care. There are no specific provisions here regarding minors, so minors can get the care they need.” “This is really about protecting the health care providers and their networks that provide care,” Lam responded.
“Many states have restrictions on transgender surgeries and surgeries for minors and other types of care for minors…We want to make sure that parental rights and parental consent are protected,” Reddy said. answered. “If you’re an adult and you feel like you can’t get treatment in another state and you want to come here and get treatment, we don’t really have a problem with it.”
Finance Chairwoman Pamela Beidle (D-Anne Arundel) also jumped in to say the bill would not change the care available in the state.
“This bill is not about treatment. It’s not about age… It’s about protecting patient and physician information,” she said.
Cross-filed with Secretary Lamb’s bill is House Bill 691, sponsored by Representative David Moon (D-Montgomery) and scheduled for consideration in the House Health and Government Operations Committee on February 21st. be.
