Bills to ban gender-affirming breast surgery, hormone treatments for minors attract heated debate
House Bill 377 would make it a Class B felony to prescribe, administer, or supply puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy to anyone under 18. (Photo by)
When Jennifer Boisvert's son Luke told her at age 9 that he identifies as a boy, the transition process was simple: support her son, buy him his preferred clothes, and use his preferred pronouns.
'He's had months, years of counseling,' she said to lawmakers Monday. 'He's well rounded. He's a happy kid.'
The more difficult process would come later. Luke Boisvert, now 13, does not produce sex hormones and has just one X chromosome, a condition known as Turner syndrome. That means he does not need puberty blockers — but he does need hormone treatment, either in the form of testosterone or estrogen.
'My body physically cannot go through puberty on its own,' Luke Boisvert testified Monday. 'Because of this, I need to take one of the hormones so I can go through puberty. I would prefer to take testosterone, of course, because it fits what I want to look like, sound like, feel like, and who I am: a boy.'
The Boisverts, who live in Nashua, are moving forward with a process and a team at Massachusetts General Hospital. But proposed legislation in the state would bar such practice of hormone therapy in New Hampshire — and threaten felony charges.
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW is in a crisis, call, text or chat the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. To reach the New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point, call or text 833-710-6477. If you need help with grief and loss, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention offers advice and resources. You can also call the National SAMHSA Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP, with services in English and Spanish, toll free 24/7.
In 2024, Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a ban on certain gender-affirming surgeries for people under 18. But the ban did not apply to all types of surgeries, nor did it impact other treatments for transgender youth, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.
This year, Republican state lawmakers are seeking to ban those, too. A pair of bills to do so attracted heated, emotional testimony to the House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee Monday.
House Bill 377 would make it a Class B felony to prescribe, administer, or supply puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy to anyone under 18. And House Bill 712 would ban gender-affirming breast surgeries for minors, and limit the use of such surgeries to those needed to treat 'malignancy, injury, infection, or malformation.' The latter bill would not carry a felony charge but could open surgeons up to litigation for providing them.
Republicans, inspired by national political trends, say the procedures should be banned until people are adults and can decide to undergo the treatments without parental consent. They argued that not enough is known about the long-term effects of the procedures and pointed to cases in which adults have expressed regrets for undergoing them as children.
'Children cannot fully comprehend the lifelong implications of altering their bodies with powerful medications,' said Rep. Lisa Mazur, a Goffstown Republican and the sponsor of HB 377. 'Yet we are witnessing a concerning trend where children, some as young as 3 years old, are being seen as patients in gender clinics.'
Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates, meanwhile, decried the bill as an attack on transgender people and said it would exacerbate gender dysphoria among transgender youth and could ultimately increase suicide attempts. Over hours, transgender teens and young adults testified to their own experiences, seeking to convince the committee not to recommend the bills.
Gender-affirming surgeries for minors are rare, according to data from the National Institutes of Health. Puberty blockers and hormone therapy treatments are more common for that age group.
But opponents of the bills say allowing both as options is crucial to give physicians the best tools to help struggling youth.
'All transgender young people in New Hampshire should be able to get the doctor-prescribed medical care they need,' said Linds Jakows, the co-founder of the advocacy group 603 Equality, in a statement Monday. 'Patients, families, and providers must be the ones making these decisions, not politicians.'
Conservatives and other supporters of the bill had the opposite view, contending that the procedures are more likely to harm children than help them.
Rep. Erica Layon, a Derry Republican, argued there should be better avenues to help transgender teenagers than to give them procedures that can be irreversible.
'It's not compassionate to give these to kids, and I ask that we stand up and we say that it's time to end this experiment and protect kids,' Layon said.
The bills emerged after a 2024 election season in which transgender rights became a central flashpoint, as Republicans, including now-President Donald Trump, vowed to ban the procedures across the country.
Supporters of the bill on Monday pointed to research indicating that hormone therapy and puberty blockers can carry long-term side effects and hamper bone growth and bone density.
Advocates pushed back on the safety risks, with some citing a 2023 study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing increases in 'appearance congruence, positive affect, and life satisfaction' among teenagers and young people after two years of their transitioning.
And transgender people said they disagreed that any risks justified banning the procedures. To many, puberty blockers and hormone therapy allowed them to finally realize their gender identity and shed the misery they had experienced before.
'There's been a lot of talk about regret and permanent, irreversible decisions, and let me start by saying that my biggest regret is not transitioning sooner,' said Savannah Griffin, a transgender woman from Bradford.
When Griffin was 17, before she had come out, her severe depression caused her to drive her truck off the road in an attempted suicide. She survived, and began seeking therapy and taking antidepressants. Eventually, realizing the source of her pain, she began estrogen treatments at age 18.
'It's the best decision I've ever made,' she said. 'Six and a half months after starting the estrogen, I was able to quit the antidepressants. I've been as happy as I've ever been, and I go months without having suicidal thoughts at all, whereas before coming out it was daily.'
'As for irreversible changes, suicide is an extremely irreversible change,' Griffin said.
The committee will make a recommendation on the bills in the coming weeks, after which they will head to the full 400-member House.
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