In recent years, LGBTQ+ and reproductive health rights have been under attack. While people were previously able to feel confident in their ability to receive gender affirming care and reproductive healthcare, this is no longer the case in many states across the nation.
Laws surrounding youth, in particular, have been under higher scrutiny and many changes have been made. Young people are no longer able to rely on their government to keep them safe and healthy — a direct result of the laws and bills recently passed.
Although changes in law have been made across the nation, youth in Idaho are especially at risk. Their access to abortions and gender affirming care has been largely revoked. Rather than protecting children, this places them in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.
Gender affirming care has been a major topic of discussion in Idaho, specifically regarding people under 18.
Defined by the Human Rights Campaign as “life-saving healthcare for transgender people of all ages…. including mental health care, medical care, and social services.” Gender affirming care is necessary for transgender people’s quality of life, safety and happiness.
Commonly misconceived as only including hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gender affirming surgeries, gender affirming care encompasses a broad spectrum of therapy and other practices that allow transgender people to feel comfortable in their own bodies.
Particularly for those under 18, gender affirming care includes things like counseling, puberty blockers (which delay, not prevent puberty), and speech therapy. Gender-altering surgery is not the only option for trans youth working to relieve their gender dysphoria.
Passed in April of 2023 and taking effect in January of 2024, Idaho House Bill 71 attacks trans youths’ rights to receive the gender affirming care they want and need. Also called the “Vulnerable Child Protective Act,” the bill criminalizes providing gender affirming care for minors such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender affirming surgeries.
According to the Idaho Legislature, House Bill 71 protects youth from “irreversible physical alterations,” sterility or sexual dysfunction, or the “mutilation” of healthy body organs. In fact, the bill places trans youth at far greater risk than they already were.
Gender affirming care for youth significantly improves mental health and overall wellbeing. This kind of healthcare doesn’t just relieve gender dysphoria, which causes issues in many facets of a person’s life. According to Columbia Psychiatry, youth who cannot receive the gender affirming care they need experience far higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.
Taking away trans minors’ right to feel comfortable in their own bodies doesn’t protect them, it creates unsafe and unstable conditions that further the problems trans youth already commonly experience.
In addition to gender affirming care, abortion rights are also under attack. Since Idaho’s total abortion ban in August of 2022, people who need an abortion have been forced to seek healthcare in other states.
Idaho’s teen abortion travel ban took effect in May of 2023, creating even more of an unsafe environment for people who need reproductive healthcare. The ban criminalizes “abortion trafficking,” meaning that anyone who helps someone under 18 travel to receive an abortion can be punished with a minimum of two years in prison.
Creating this abortion travel ban doesn’t save lives, it places those who need an abortion at far higher health risks. According to medical experts at Harvard Health, banning abortions for minors often doesn’t stop them from having an abortion, it stops them from having a safe abortion.
When people don’t have access to an abortion, they often take matters into their own hands to induce miscarriage. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that “unsafe abortions result in the death of approximately 47,000 women per year worldwide and leave millions more with significant physical health consequences.”
Not only does revoking access to abortions pose health risks to women in Idaho, it also detrimentally affects their mental health. Dr. Frank C. Worrell, the president of the American Psychological Association, argues that “people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with those who are able to obtain abortions.”
When minors cannot access the healthcare they need, whether that be an abortion or gender affirming care, they are not being protected. Instead, they are being put in situations that risk their physical health, mental health and the quality of life they deserve.
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Over thr past 10 years, our legislature has become less and less humane.