Georgia Senate passes surprise ban on puberty blockers for minors

Republicans in the Georgia Senate hijacked a bill aimed at increasing access to home health care services by adding two last-minute amendments that would further restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender Georgians. Both amendments and the bill passed in a party-line vote Tuesday. The first amendment to House Bill 54, introduced by Savannah Republican […]

Sen. Ben Watson debates a bill on the Senate floor. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (file photo)

Republicans in the Georgia Senate hijacked a bill aimed at increasing access to home health care services by adding two last-minute amendments that would further restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender Georgians. Both amendments and the bill passed in a party-line vote Tuesday.

The first amendment to House Bill 54, introduced by Savannah Republican Sen. Ben Watson, would prevent doctors from prescribing puberty blockers to children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a feeling of distress that comes from one’s gender identity not matching one’s body. 

Watson, a doctor who specializes in internal medicine and geriatrics, said that the bill would not prevent adults over the age of 18 from seeking gender-affirming care.

“If you’re an adult and you choose to do that, then that is on you,” Watson said.

Another amendment to the bill, authored by Vidalia Republican Sen. Blake Tillery, would bar Georgia’s state health insurance plan from covering gender-affirming care for state employees and their dependents, and prohibit Georgia’s state-owned hospitals from providing such care. It mimics Senate Bill 39, which passed out of the Senate during the 2025 legislative session but did not make it to a vote on the House floor.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican who is running for governor, quickly issued a statement praising the bill’s passage.

Senate Democrats pushed back against the last-minute changes, criticizing Republicans for what they saw as a pivot from a recent focus on pocketbook issues to polarizing red-meat proposals in an election year.

“Culture war bills are the easy things to do, to pick on vulnerable populations and try to distract your voters and the voters of Georgia from the failure of the Republican agenda in this country and in this state to deliver a good quality of life for Georgians,” said Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat.

Sen. RaShaun Kemp, an Atlanta Democrat and one of two openly gay lawmakers in the chamber, also condemned the bill.

“Legislative fear does not reduce the cost of Georgians’ everyday lives,” Kemp said. “Legislative fear just continues to divide us.”

Kemp also warned lawmakers that passing the bill could leave the state vulnerable to costly lawsuits. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year that discrimination lawsuits and other complaints involving transgender people had cost Georgia taxpayers at least $4.1 million since 2015.

Doctors have recommended a variety of options to treat gender dysphoria in transgender Georgians, including social transitioning, which could include adopting a new name or pronouns; hormone therapy, in which patients take estrogen or testosterone; or puberty blocking drugs, which pause the process of puberty. However, legislation seeking to restrict health care access for transgender Georgians has grown more common in the GOP-controlled state Legislature in recent years. 

Senate backs ban on transgender care for children in late Crossover Day vote

In 2023, lawmakers banned doctors from performing gender-affirming surgeries or prescribing hormone treatments for minors with gender dysphoria but left puberty blockers available. At the time, Republicans — including Watson — described the policy as a compromise that would allow children and their families more time to undergo mental health treatments and perhaps decide not to seek hormone therapy. 

However, during the 2024 and 2025 sessions, Watson introduced additional legislation aimed at restricting puberty blockers from being used to treat minors for gender dysphoria, claiming that access to puberty blockers increased the likelihood that residents will choose to pursue gender-affirming care as adults. He also cited a Feb. 3 statement from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons expressing “substantial uncertainty” around the long-term benefits and harms of hormone therapy and puberty blockers.

Numerous major medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the American Psychological Association have stated that puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery are safe and effective treatments for gender dysphoria. 

A 2025 law that sought to ban gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in state custody also hit a legal roadblock after a federal judge ruled that the law likely violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The state is currently appealing the ruling.

Bentley Hudgins, the Georgia state director of the Human Rights Campaign, criticized Senate Republicans for seeking to restrict health care access for transgender Georgians.

“They couldn’t get their divisive agenda across the finish line last year, so they doubled down on treating children and trans adults as less than,” Hudgins said. “Bullies don’t belong in government.”

The bill now goes back to the House for consideration. However, a spokesperson for House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, signaled there might not be much interest in taking up the measure.

“The House is going to remain focused on what Georgians have told us matters the most, and that’s delivering meaningful property tax relief, strengthening healthcare and expanding access to quality education,” Kayla Green, Burns’ communications director, said in a statement Tuesday.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE