Oregon s Reckless Medicine | City Journal
Earlier this month, Democrats on the Oregon House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care voted down a proposed amendment requiring that patients who seek reversal of gender-transition treatment ( detransition ) receive the same care and coverage as patients pursuing gender transition. Refusing to take seriously mounting evidence of medical harm and regret from gender transition, Oregon Democrats would apparently rather protect doctors from liability than protect patients right to ethical care.
H.B. 2002 puts the state on a path to becoming a gender-affirming sanctuary for minors who seek gender-affirming drugs and surgeries but live in states that have banned these interventions. The law mandates insurance coverage for the full range of affirming procedures, which, based on the World Professional Association for Transgender Health s (WPATH) most recent Standards of Care, can include anything from run-of-the-mill hormones and facial feminization surgery to boutique procedures such as penis-preserving vaginoplasty for individuals who identify as members of both sexes or the creation of a flat front for individuals who identify as eunuchs.
WPATH has eliminated all age minimums for such drugs and surgeries. As long as a therapist is willing to write a letter of support for a procedure and a doctor is willing to perform it, Oregon law will mandate the procedure for coverage by private insurance and government-funded Medicaid.