Parents of children who are questioning their gender would still have access in Georgia to medicine that prevents the onset of puberty under a new version of state legislation that had sought to ban all access.
The version of Senate Bill 30 that passed the Georgia Senate in early March would have threatened the medical licenses of doctors and hospitals administering puberty blockers.
Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, the bill’s chief sponsor, said the prohibition was needed because of long-term repercussions, such as bone density loss. He pointed to some European countries that have banned access.
But a fellow Republican in the House of Representatives said Wednesday that the Senate’s bill went too far, and she reined it in with what she called a compromise. Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, chairs the House Public and Community Health Committee, where the bill was sent by House leadership. Her amendment preserves access to puberty blockers but makes them harder to obtain.
The committee hearing featured medical specialists who testified for and against a ban, with one pediatric endocrinologist saying that delaying puberty is harmful and another dismissing the consequences of puberty blockers.
“Physiologically these bodies are male, and they are female,” said Dr. Quentin Van Meter, who testified to the committee via Watson’s phone. “There’s nothing that we can do that can change that at any cellular level and so puberty blockers are inappropriate for the use in these kids before the age of consent,” he said.
Delaying puberty reduces bone density and can cause problems with “mental capabilities,” he said without elaborating.
Dr. Shirley Hao said she was speaking for the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and that the organization opposes banning puberty blockers.
“Treatment of gender dysphoria and gender affirming care is supported by nearly every major medical and mental health organization in the United States,” she said, “including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society, just to name a few.”
Hao said studies have shown that bone density can be addressed by the later use of hormone therapy and by increased vitamin D intake, calcium supplementation and physical activity.
Several who spoke at the hearing noted a disconnect between Georgia Republicans’ goal of safeguarding parental rights and how Watson and other proponents of SB 30 want to deny those rights when it comes to puberty blockers.
Cooper appeared to agree with the critique.
“I think a lot of us are just having some trouble about that sort of dictatorial writ,” she said, before outlining how her amendments would alter SB 30 by allowing continued access to puberty blockers but making them “really hard to get.”
Parents would have to get two behavioral health specialists — either two psychiatrists, or a psychiatrist and a psychologist — to determine that their child has gender dysphoria. Then they would have to see a board-certified pediatric endocrinologist.
These sorts of specialists are rare, Cooper noted.
“A parent is going to have to really want and understand and believe their child has this dysphoria because a lot of them are probably going to have to drive 100 or 150 miles to get to that kind of doctor,” she said.
Cooper’s amendment didn’t placate Democrats. All eight Democrats present voted against the bill, after their caucus vice chair, Rep. Spencer Frye from Athens, railed against SB 30 as a “disgusting” waste of time.
But the committee passed the bill with the support of eight Republicans.
The House Rules Committee will now decide whether to put it to a vote of the full House. If it were to pass there, the Senate would have to agree to Wednesday’s amendments for it to become law.