Puerto Rican Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón (R) has signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth under 21. The legislation bans both gender-affirming surgeries (which are rarely performed on minors anyway) and hormone therapy.

Anyone who provides this care to young people faces 15 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, as well as the loss of their medical license, according to the Associated Press.

Related

Puerto Rican Supreme Court says nonbinary folks can update birth certificates with X gender markers
The justices said there was no justification for subjecting nonbinary people to discrimination.

The law reportedly justifies the ban by declaring, “Minors, having not yet reached the necessary emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity, are particularly vulnerable to making decisions that can have irreversible consequences. Therefore, it is the State’s duty to ensure their comprehensive well-being.”

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

Puerto Rico’s Federación LGBTQ+ released a joint statement with GLAAD slamming the legislation after both the Puerto Rican House and Senate approved it earlier this year.

“Every person in Puerto Rico deserves to live free from discrimination and with access to essential health care. Every major medical association supports health care for transgender people and youth. Banning this care and stripping the rights of parents to make the best medical decisions for their families would create unbearable burdens for the most marginalized in Puerto Rico.”

“Lawmakers must vote to protect access to health care that saves lives, and allow families to make private health care decisions that help loved ones be themselves, be safe, and to thrive.”

GLAAD also decried the added barriers for trans Puerto Rican youth, reminding us that they cannot simply drive to another state where it’s legal to obtain care, as many of those living in the continental U.S. have been doing.

“Transgender people in the territory who lose access would be stranded if they do not have significant money and resources to explore other options for care,” GLAAD wrote. “Nothing has changed about the care, including its safety and efficacy – the bill’s movement is the direct result of an extreme environment of disinformation that’s now infecting U.S. territories where marginalized people are already under greater threat.”

ACLU of Puerto Rico executive director Annette Martínez Orabona said the law “creates two distinct categories of children in Puerto Rico, one that allows parents to access and authorize treatments, if their children’s identity aligns with the sex assigned at birth, and another that prohibits parents from having the same right, if their child’s identity is different .”

Federación LGBTQ+ has also announced plans to challenge the bill in court.

“Let there be no doubt: We will go to court to challenge the constitutionality of the governor’s cruel and inhumane signing of a law that criminalizes health professionals for caring for trans minors,” director Justin Jesús Santiago told the Associated Press.

In an earlier statement, Santiago also warned that the law “significantly increases the risk of suicide among trans youth” and “exposes them to greater suffering and vulnerability.”

The organization’s president, Pedro Julio Serrano, said that by signing the bill, Gov. González-Colón has become “the most anti-equity governor in history.”

“She ignored her own Secretary of Health and the medical associations that endorse treatments for trans minors. By signing Senate Bill 350 into law, she has just endangered trans minors and their families and criminalized health professionals for doing their job.”

Puerto Rico joins dozens of states that have already banned gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.