Gender-Affirming Care Ban

A gender-affirming care ban is a state law that blocks or limits access to medical care that supports a person's gender identity, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and in some cases surgery. Most of these laws target minors, barring doctors from providing or referring transgender youth for such treatment, sometimes with criminal or licensing penalties. The first ban for minors became law in 2021, and by the mid-2020s more than two dozen states had passed similar measures. Major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, support access to this care as evidence-based. In 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Skrmetti, upheld Tennessee's ban on such care for minors.