Medical Boards Ban Puberty Blockers and Gender Transition Surgeries for Minors

LAKE BUENA VISTA (FLV) – A Florida rule to prohibit minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery to treat gender dysphoria passed Friday.

Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine at a joint meeting approved rules banning these treatments for those under the age of 18.

The boards differed on how to regulate minors who have already begun undergoing 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 an IRB approved clinical trial. However, the Board of Medicine voted against the exception.

In June, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo asked the Florida Board of Medicine to look the findings and establish a standard of care for these “complex and irreversible procedures.” He has recommended against certain pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria. He cited a lack of conclusive evidence and “long-term irreversible harms” from the treatments.

After Friday’s vote, the board heard testimony from people at the meeting in support of and against the rule.