a joint florida committee Two medical boards voted Friday to approve a rule banning puberty blockers and other gender dysphoria treatments for minors in the state.
The Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine approved the rule barring minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgery after Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo advised asked the Board of Medicine in June to establish a standard of care. for such “complex and irreversible procedures”.
The boards disagreed on how best to regulate Florida minors who have already started treatment with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted to allow those treatments to continue if they were part of a clinical trial approved by an Institutional Review Board. The Board of Medicine voted against that exception.
The boards agreed in August to begin a 120-day process to begin making rules on gender dysphoria treatments for children.
RACHEL LEVINE’S CLAIM EVERYONE AGREE ON ‘GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE’ IS CRIMINATED BY ‘HIDDEN’ DOCTORS
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Governor Ron DeSantis at a news conference in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
((Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Today, the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine voted to protect our children from irreversible surgeries and highly experimental treatments,” Ladapo said in a statement Friday praising the new rule. “I appreciate your integrity for deciding in the best interest of Florida’s children despite facing tremendous pressure to allow these unproven and risky treatments.”
“Children deserve to learn to navigate this world without damaging pressures. Florida will continue to fight for children to be children,” added Ladapo.
Under the administration of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the state Agency for Health Care Administration ruled over the summer to prohibit health care providers from billing the state Medicaid program for treatments such as sex reassignment surgery, puberty or hormonal therapies.
JUDGE DENIES MEDICAID VS. FLORIDA MEDICAID RULE THAT DENIES SURGICAL TREATMENTS AND MEDICATIONS FOR GENDER DYSPHORIA
The rule change also came amid recent data from the state Medicaid regulator showing rates of pharmaceutical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria among minors receiving Florida Medicaid has skyrocketed in recent years.
The number of children in Florida Medicaid receiving behavioral therapy for gender dysphoria increased from 143 in 2017 to 233 in 2021, or nearly 63%, according to state data. provided to Fox News Digital in August. Children receiving puberty blockers increased from 15 children in 2017 to 55 in 2021, an increase of almost 270%.
A protester holds the trans flag and stands in solidarity with other speakers during a rally at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio on June 25, 2021.
(Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Florida Department of Health has been at odds with the federal government regarding the best treatment for children struggling with gender dysphoria.
FLORIDA MEDICAID SEES ‘EXTRAORDINARY INCREASE’ IN CHILDREN RECEIVING PUBERTY BLOCKERS, HORMONES AND IRREVERSIBLE SURGERY
Citing peer-reviewed studies as well as a “lack of conclusive evidence and the potential for irreversible long-term effects,” Ladapo published a fact sheet in April advising against guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the treatment. options for children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria.
According to HHS, “gender-affirming care” includes social affirmation at any age, puberty blockers during puberty, and cross-sex hormone therapy beginning during early adolescence. Irreversible surgery “is typically used in adulthood or on a case-by-case basis in adolescence,” according to the agency.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference held at the Cox Science Center & Aquarium on June 8, 2022 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
DeSantis said in August that doctors who “disfigure” young children “based on gender dysphoria” should face legal consequences.
“They don’t tell you what that is… They’re actually doing double mastectomies on very young girls, they want to castrate these little boys,” DeSantis said over the summer. “From both a child health and well-being perspective, you don’t disfigure 10-, 12-, 13-year-olds based on gender dysphoria, 80% of it resolves by the time they get older anyway… So, why would you be doing this?”
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In May, several medical professionals told Fox News Digital that they have seen rates of gender dysphoria soar among their young patients in recent years, but that many of their colleagues are reluctant to speak out publicly against transgender ideology for fear of reprisals both professional and personal.
Emma Colton of Fox News contributed to this report.
