Limits On Trans Youth Medical Care Move Through House

After a nearly two-hour public hearing on a bill that would prohibit transgender youth from obtaining gender-affirming medical procedures, House Democrats tried to amend House Bill 2007. 

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, proposed an amendment that would forbid all minors from having cosmetic surgeries. 

“Is this the first instance of prohibiting a procedure specifically for a minor?” she said. “I guess, can minors get a nose job? Can they get a rhinoplasty as long as their parents consent to it, whether it’s medical or cosmetic?”

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, voiced concerns that this would ban children from receiving care for cosmetic issues that were more serious. 

“I don’t think that this is as well thought through as the delegate thought,” he said. “Because I think there’s a lot of care out there that is cosmetic in nature, that is not medically necessary. But I think a lot of us in here would agree, I want a kid that’s got the potential to solve a cleft palate problem to be able to solve it and that stuff still happens here in West Virginia as well. So I’d urge rejection.”

Young responded that Steele’s concerns were unfounded. 

“I did a quick Google [search] and it says cleft palate surgery is medically necessary,” she said. “And I’m Googling it because I’m not a doctor, which is why I don’t want to be making people’s health care decisions that only a couple of us as doctors can, and those are the only ones who should be making health care decisions between patients and people. I hope you’ll support my amendment, because if we’re going to protect kids, we should protect all of them, not just the straight ones. If you want to say the kid should be allowed to get boob jobs, I guess you could vote no. So I guess we’ll see.”

Young’s amendment failed by a vote of 12 to 87, along party lines. House Bill 2007 is expected to be on third reading in the House on Friday.