A Narrative Synthesis Review of Legislation Banning Gender-Affirming Care

In recent years, there has been a drastic increase in legislation across US states that aims to ban gender-affirming care (GAC) for transgender and nonbinary (trans) youth. We synthesized the literature on bans on GAC, its impacts on medical and mental health providers, trans communities, particularly trans youth and their caregivers (e.g., parents/families), and provided recommendations for future research and advocacy.

We highlight several adverse impacts of legislation banning GAC, including: an increase in professional tensions for medical and mental health providers that work with trans youth and worse mental health outcomes for trans youth and their caregivers due to loss of autonomy in accessing evidence-based GAC.

Bans on GAC undermine evidenced-based practices and are resulting in negative health effects for trans communities and youth. Research evidence highlights the need to examine effects of bans at the intersections of gender identity, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity.