CW: This article contains mentions of suicide.

A proposed bill restricting access to gender-affirming care — including services offered by University Health Services — for all Texans regardless of age is pending in the Senate.

“With this increase in transgender treatments also comes an increase in patients that are opting to detransition,” said state Sen. Bob Hall, the author of the bill, in its statement of intent. “The sad reality is that the use of hormone blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments and gender modification surgeries are not without complications.”

SB 1029 defines gender-affirming care as “procedure(s) or treatment(s) provided for the purpose of transitioning a patient’s biological sex” or “affirming the patient’s perception of the patient’s sex.” 

Services it would limit include sterilization surgeries such as castration, vasectomies and hysterectomies; mastectomy, also known as top-surgery; the prescription, administration or supply of any medications that cause infertility such as puberty-blocking medication; and the removal of any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.

The bill states gender-affirming care creates a “conflict of interest” as the necessary and extensive follow-up appointments after a procedure guarantee doctors lifelong patients. 

According to Senate analysis, the bill would limit these procedures by making health care providers and health plans financially liable for “consequences” of a patients’ care, prohibiting the use of federal funds for procedures and prohibiting state-funded insurance plans from covering them. This includes the hormone therapy UHS offers under the University’s state-funded Student Health Insurance Plan. 

“These bills are so dangerous because not only do they perpetuate stigma, but harassment, discrimination and violence,” said Maggie Di Sanza, the campus organizer for Texas Rising, a nonpartisan organization advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. “Assault against transgender (people) is only going to become more prevalent.”

On March 16, Cody Pyke, who holds a medical doctorate, law degree and master’s in health law and bioethics, testified against the bill’s base of increased patient regret rates following gender-affirming care during a Senate committee meeting. They referred to a 2021 analysis from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health that revealed roughly 1% experienced regret following a service. 

“The bill ignores mountains of medical evidence promoting-gender affirming care and further ignores legal precedent protecting the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship,” Pyke said during testimony. “(It) harkens back to something we heard Sen. Campbell say repeatedly — ‘Just wait until they’re adults.’ If that’s truly the position of this body, then why are we trying to tell adults they can’t get the care now?”

Pyke said this care is essential to the life and mental health of transgender citizens. According to the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health completed by the Trevor Project, a group focused on suicide prevention efforts within the LGBTQ+ community, 45% of the American LGBTQ+ youth aged 13 to 24 considered suicide in the past year — with one in five transgender and nonbinary youth attempting. 

“These bills lead to negative health outcomes, like structural, interpersonal and individual forms of stigma, that are highly prevalent among trans folks and have been linked to adverse health health outcomes like anxiety and substance abuse,” Di Sanza said. “Gender-affirming care is not only life saving, but necessary because trans Texans deserve to thrive.”

The University provides information on mental health resources and local clinics offering gender-affirming care on the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health website. 

Both UHS and the Gender and Sexuality Center declined to comment on the bill.