AMA Urged to Do More to Safeguard Adolescent Gender-Affirming Care

How should the American Medical Association (AMA) respond to the rapidly increasing number of state prohibitions on gender-affirming care for adolescents? Delegates considered the topic during committee discussions at the AMA House of Delegates meeting Saturday.

The AMA already has a policy in place for gender-affirming care, and a new draft resolution moves the policy forward from “passively supporting” gender affirming care to “proactively protecting it,” according to Charles “Charlie” Adams, a draft resolution co-author.

Adams, a medical student and alternate delegate from Missouri, explained that as a kid, he longed for a medical career, but felt uncomfortable seeking one in the body he was born into. He said he had every opportunity available to him as a child, except access to puberty blockers.

“Who I am today was once a figment of my wildest dreams. I am a man — a transgender man,” he said.

Resolution co-author Amanda “Mandy” Bell, MD, who spoke on behalf of the Endocrine Society, noted that multiple states currently ban transgender care for children. In 2023 alone, 556 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced and 83 passed into law, she said.

The Endocrine Society recommends gender-affirming hormone therapy as an option for adolescents “who continue to demonstrate gender incongruence with pubertal hormone suppression and who demonstrate the ability to provide informed consent, usually beginning at 16 years old,” according to the draft resolution.

Gender incongruence is defined as a situation where a person’s gender identity does not match the gender the individual was assigned at birth. Gender dysphoria is a condition where a person’s gender incongruence leads to “significant burden,” noted the resolution.