BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho House voted to pass HB71 on Monday. The bill would keep health care providers from giving gender affirming health care to transgender people under 18 and send health care workers to prison for up to 10 years if they provide it.
Eve Devitt, a 17-year-old transgender student at Boise High School, said the bill will bar trans youth from receiving life-saving medical medications and hormones. She called the bill an "existential threat to trans kids' lives in the state."
"I think it's horrible," Devitt said. "And it's going to kill a lot of trans kids if it's passed."
The bill would not only keep transgender youth from having surgeries, but it would also prohibit any medications, including hormones and puberty blockers.
Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, helped write the bill that passed in the House 58 to 12.
"This bill is about children," Skaug said. "Why would we allow them in this tender state of mind that is under 18 to make decisions on having their bodily parts, healthy bodily organs removed?"
He said that children with gender dysphoria are confused and said certain surgeries and medications have long-term consequences.
However, Devitt said transgender youth go through months and months of tests and evaluations before getting on hormonal medication.
"It took me 15 months of constant medical visits to be able to get onto hormones for the first time," Devitt said. "Taking trans kids off of hormones, especially if we've been on them for a long time, just like that, is super dangerous on its own, without the mental health issues that will come along with that."
Skaug, along with other supporters of the bill, counter there are other options available.
"The best way to reduce suicides in children is to give them traditional talk therapy, counseling and care as they go through puberty and these confusing times of life," Skaug said.
Blaine Conzatti, Idaho Family Policy Center president, agrees. He helped legislators write the bill.
"We need to recognize that the kids are not equipped to make these sorts of decisions at such young ages, especially when the harms are so severe," Conzatti said.
In a press release, the Idaho Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that it opposes HB71 and that gender affirming care is well studied and safe.
"As pediatricians caring for young Idahoans across the state, we are alarmed by the state legislature's efforts to curtail this evidence-based care for our patients," the release stated. "H.B. 71 would criminalize gender-affirming care and prevent pediatricians from providing comprehensive care to youth with gender dysphoria – one of our most medically vulnerable patient populations. If passed into law, H.B. 71 would be an unprecedented interference in the physician/patient relationship and would infringe on the rights of parents to work with medical professionals to decide the best care for their children."
The Trevor Project is a nonprofit group that focuses on preventing suicide in LBGTQ youth. It conducted a 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ youth mental health that states nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth have attempted suicide.
"93% of transgender and nonbinary youth said that they have worried about transgender people being denied access to gender-affirming medical care due to state or local laws," The Trevor Project states.
According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an interdisciplinary professional and educational nonprofit organization that represents trans health specialists and guidelines, the standard of care for transgender people should be flexible.
"Before any physical interventions are considered for adolescents, extensive exploration of psychological, family and social issues should be undertaken," the WPATH states.
The WPATH also states that medical options like puberty-repressing hormones are reversible.
Devitt said she got on puberty blockers when she was 14, and that this kind of medication can be life saving for transgender youth.
"This bill and the way that it's being talked about in the House Judiciary Committee frames it as though you can go up to like a vending machine and get hormones, which could not be further than the truth," Devitt said.
Some Idaho lawmakers, like Rep. Ilana Rubel, D- Boise, hope Senators block the bill completely or at least make some changes. Rubel also said gender-changing surgeries aren't done in Idaho and that the big problem with the bill is the ban on medications and hormones.
Concerning the part of the bill that would send providers to prison for giving care, Rubel said Idaho is losing health care providers and that the Gem State "has become a very unfriendly place to practice medicine."
Conzatti, who helped write the bill, disagrees.
"When you prevent a kid from going through puberty, it will cause harm to that child," Conzatti said. "And so from our perspective, these drugs are just as harmful, and kids need to be just as protected from them as they are from sex reassignment surgeries."
Planned Parenthood released a statement about the bill stating that anti-transgender policies like this strip away people's rights.
"Planned Parenthood stands unequivocally and passionately with the transgender community in Idaho and always will. Gender affirming care is time sensitive and life-saving. Patients, families, and health care providers — no one else — should decide what care is in the best interest of transgender youth, in accordance with current medical best practices. Receiving this care means these children have the greatest chance to thrive," Planned Parenthood stated.
The ACLU of Idaho also gave a statement to KTVB.
"The bill is unconstitutional. It discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status, in violation of the equal protection and due process rights of adolescents, their parents, and their doctors. What this bill proposes – an outright ban on clinical standards of care – far exceeds the typical government regulation of medicine. It also intrudes on the fundamental rights of parents to decide what is best for their children," ACLU Idaho stated.
Devitt said she'll have to move to a different state if the bill passes.
"I've lived in Boise my entire life," Devitt said. "I love Boise. I love the people who are in Boise. I love my friends who I've had for so long. And it's horrifying that these people would force us to abandon all of that."
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