Gender-Affirming Care: A9275 Rivera / A6596-B Rosenthal

MEMORANDUM OF OPPOSITION

A9275 Rivera / A6596-B Rosenthal
Requires Medicaid to cover gender-affirming care regardless of federal funding

The above-referenced bill would require Medicaid to cover so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors in the absence of federal funding. The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this shocking legislation and urges its rejection.

While the rest of the world, and indeed most of the United States, have begun to embrace sanity surrounding gender dysphoria in children, top New York officials and this bill’s sponsors seem ready to die on the hill of disfiguring minors. The fervor surrounding this issue has died down, and medical professionals who once remained silent out of fear are speaking out.

Last month, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons came out against gender-related surgical procedures for anyone under 19 years old. A day later, the American Medical Association released a statement agreeing with the ASPS. Both groups cited a lack of evidence and growing uncertainty about the benefits of such procedures. In January, a 22-year-old from Westchester won a $2 million medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors who pressured her into a double mastectomy after less than a year of gender dysphoria. That New York leaders are doubling down on junk science that harms children, after a jury in their own state saw the danger involved, truly shocks the conscience.

The cherry on top of this nonsensical proposal, of course, is that the sponsors want taxpayers to cover the cost of permanently disfiguring and chemically castrating children. Children with gender dysphoria need mental health support – which New York hospitals have promised to give them regardless. We urge that this bill be rejected, and that lawmakers focus on measures that actually support children and families instead of scoring political points.