The recent wave of Republican-led bans attempting to block transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care may be fertile political ground for conservatives in an election year, but a new study shows the bans are putting tens of thousands of vulnerable young people in jeopardy.
A report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 54,000 transitioning transgender youth ages 13 through 17 are at risk of losing access to gender-affirming medical care, even in cases where doctors, therapists and parents concur with the need for those treatments. And in at least three states — Alabama, North Carolina and Oklahoma — lawmakers are pushing legislation that would impact about 4,000 18-to-20-year-olds.
The figures are staggering considering that only about 150,000 American youth identify as transgender.
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