Sex reassignment bill heads back to Senate for final approval

Published Apr. 19, 2023, 4:32 p.m. ET | Updated Apr. 19, 2023

Pride flag, Dec. 18, 2018. (Photo/Steve Johnson, Unsplash)
Pride flag, Dec. 18, 2018. (Photo/Steve Johnson, Unsplash)

Lydia Nusbaum contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – The House moved forward a bill that will prohibit minors from receiving sex reassignment surgeries and prescriptions Wednesday.

The bill passed by a vote of 82-31 in the House. The House’s amended version will now head back to the Senate for approval.

The House approved an amendment Tuesday that would require minors who are already prescribed gender clinical interventions to finish those therapies by Dec. 31.

The also change said a health insurance policy may not provide coverage for those gender clinical interventions.

It will also sets guidelines for adults who want to go forward with sex reassignment surgeries. It prohibits government entities or organizations contracting with the state from using state funds for these treatments.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Melbourne Beach, is carrying the bill in the House. Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, sponsored the legislation in the Senate which passed 27-12.

The Senate previously approved the bill, which allowed those already prescribed gender clinical interventions to continue treatments.

The bill would grant courts of the state temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in the state if the child has been “subjected to, or is threatened with being subjected to, sex reassignment prescriptions or procedures.”

The bill prohibits Florida healthcare practitioners from providing sex reassignment prescriptions and procedures to children.

A physician may not provide gender clinical interventions to a minor, except minors who were prescribed gender clinical interventions on or before Jan. 1, and continuously received therapies through July 1.

These minors may continue to receive therapies through Dec. 31 solely for the purpose of “gradual discontinuation of such therapies,” according to the House amendment.

The Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine will have 60 days to do emergency rules, which will outline what the process would be for standards of care pertaining to minors who would already be on these treatments.

The bill creates a third degree felony for healthcare practitioners who willfully or actively participate in violating the prohibition against providing these treatments to a child.

It amends existing law relating to authority for the Department of Health to issue an emergency order suspending the license of a practitioner who was arrested for violating certain crimes.

The bill also requires that any hospital, ambulatory surgical center, or physician’s office registered for the provision of office surgery, to provide a signed statement to the Agency for Health Care Administration or the Department of Health.

The statement must say that the facility or office does not offer or provide sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures for children, except those qualifying for the exception under the bill, and also does not refer such patients to other providers for those treatments.

The bill ensures that only licensed medical doctors and osteopathic physicians can lawfully provide such treatment. 

Regarding adults who want the sex reassignment procedures or prescriptions, they would need to consent in writing. They would receive forms from the Florida Department of Health.

The physician prescribing or performing the procedure would need to be in the same room to inform the patient of the “nature and risks of the prescription or procedure” prior to the patient making a decision.

A healthcare practitioner and doctor who provides the treatments without receiving a voluntary informed consent commits a first degree misdemeanor.

Lastly, the bill bans spending state funds for these treatments by governmental entities, a public postsecondary educational institution, or organizations contracted by the state to manage the provision of Medicaid services or to manage the state’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Providers. 

Florida medical boards had approved a rule in February that prohibited minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery to treat gender dysphoria. The rule went into effect in March.

Rep. Rita Harris, D-Orlando, along with other Democrats spoke against the bill.

“When you are forced to go through the wrong puberty, you grow parts of your body that you don’t want,” Harris said. “This isn’t about ‘I think I might be a boy.’ These kids know they are a different gender.”

Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange supported the bill in debate.

“This is not hateful. This is not ignoring a segment of society. This is, in fact, protecting the most vulnerable of our society. […] We’re here to protect children, so let’s protect them. Let’s love them, by acknowledging and telling them the truth,” Tramont said.

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