OU Health said they’re stopping some gender health services after receiving pressure from the state. This comes after a new piece of legislation threatened to withhold tens of millions in federal funds from the hospital if they continued. More than $39 million is on the line.”Legislatures seem to believe that the health care and mental health of trans and 2SLGBTQ-plus youth is essentially a bargaining chip they can use,” said Cindy Nguyen, policy director, ACLU of Oklahoma.The bill would allow OU Health to build a new pediatric mental health facility, but it comes with a cost: no more gender-affirming surgeries.”They are operating on a budget now from OU and that doesn’t affect it at all,” said Rep. Randy Randleman, (R) Eufaula.GOP lawmakers plan to withhold $39.4 million from OU Health if gender-affirming surgeries are performed there, money meant for a children’s mental health facility. After facing immense pressure, the hospital announced some changes.”The Legislature restricted the use of the funds from benefitting facilities performing certain gender medicine services. The new mental and behavioral health facility was never intended to provide such care. The OU Health Senior Leadership team is proactively planning the ceasing of certain gender medicine services across our facilities and that plan is already under development,” said OU Health in a partial statement. ACLU of Oklahoma said the ban will be life-threatening to trans youth.”Current best practices for trans youth simply means delaying puberty to give that child time to make informed medical decisions about their own body and this bill will take away that right of choice,” Nguyen said.Randleman, who is also a licensed psychologist, said it’s not meant to target trans youth but to focus on children’s mental wellbeing. “Solving the big problem that we have right now. That’s where I would want most of the money actually going to is to help us have more healthy children and families,” Randleman said.In a press release, Randleman said, “unproven, controversial , unchangeable hormonal procedures, including gender reassignment, at a young age, age can do irreparable physical, mental and emotional damage to a child” and taxpayer dollars shouldn’t support them.On Tuesday, KOCO 5 asked him how Oklahoma trans families should take the message.”It’s not cutting anybody out for services. It’s saying we have such a need for behavior problems and families being dysfunctional that we want this individual money to be focused on that to get us back to where we should be,” Randleman said .House Bill 1007 will be considered during the three-day special session that starts Wednesday.
OU Health said they’re stopping some gender health services after receiving pressure from the state.
This comes after a new piece of legislation threatened to withhold tens of millions in federal funds from the hospital if they continued. More than $39 million is on the line.
“Legislatures seem to believe that the health care and mental health of trans and 2SLGBTQ-plus youth is essentially a bargaining chip they can use,” said Cindy Nguyen, policy director, ACLU of Oklahoma.
The bill would allow OU Health to build a new pediatric mental health facility, but it comes with a cost: no more gender-affirming surgeries.
“They are operating on a budget now from OU and that doesn’t affect it at all,” said Rep. Randy Randleman, (R) Eufaula.
GOP lawmakers plan to withhold $39.4 million from OU Health if gender-affirming surgeries are performed there, money meant for a children’s mental health facility. After facing immense pressure, the hospital announced some changes.
“The Legislature restricted the use of the funds from benefitting facilities performing certain gender medicine services. The new mental and behavioral health facility was never intended to provide such care. The OU Health Senior Leadership team is proactively planning the ceasing of certain gender medicine services across our facilities and that plan is already under development,” said OU Health in a partial statement.
The ACLU of Oklahoma said the ban will be life-threatening to trans youth.
“Current best practices for trans youth simply means delaying puberty to give that child time to make informed medical decisions about their own body and this bill will take away that right of choice,” Nguyen said.
Randleman, who is also a licensed psychologist, said it’s not meant to target trans youth but to focus on children’s mental wellbeing.
“Solving the big problem that we have right now. That’s where I would want most of the money actually going to is to help us have more healthy children and families,” Randleman said.
In a press release, Randleman said, “unproven, controversial, unchangeable hormonal procedures, including gender reassignment, at a young age, age can do irreparable physical, mental and emotional damage to a child” and taxpayer dollars shouldn’t support them.
On Tuesday, KOCO 5 asked him how Oklahoma trans families should take the message.
“It’s not cutting anybody out for services. It’s saying we have such a need for behavior problems and families being dysfunctional that we want this individual money to be focused on that to get us back to where we should be,” Randleman said.
House Bill 1007 will be considered during the three-day special session that starts Wednesday.