Transgender health: Comparing model bills to real proposals
States are proposing bills that would restrict abortion access.
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FILE – State Rep. Barry Usher (R-Billings) speaks on the House Floor at the Montana State Capitol, Helena, Mont. on December 7, 2020. In many cases, the dozens of statehouse legislations to restrict health care services for transgender children were not borne out of grassroots frustration and constituent demand. Instead, they were pre-written by conservative interest groups and then shopped around. In Montana, nearly all of Senate Bill 99's language can be found in Do No Harm’s model bill. Usher voted for the bill. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)
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FILE – State Sen. John Fuller (R-Kalispell) introduces SB99 to the Senate Judiciary Committee in Helena on January 27, 2023. Many of the statehouse bills that restrict health care to transgender children were not a result of grassroots discontent and constituent demand. Instead, they were written and sold by conservative interest groups. In Montana, nearly all of Senate Bill 99's language can be found in Do No Harm’s model bill. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)
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FILE – Mississippi Republican Governor. Tate Reeves, Mississippi House Bill 1125's sponsor, signs the bill to ban gender affirming care for those under 18 in Mississippi during a press conference in Jackson on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. In a recent conversation with Associated Press journalists, the sponsor of the legislation denied that he had used model legislation and consulted a particular group. He said that his constituents expressed concerns and that legislative lawyers helped to craft the language.
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FILE – Mississippi Republican Governor. Tate Reeves talks about signing House Bill 1125 which bans gender affirming care for anyone under 18 in Mississippi during a news conference on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 in Jackson, Miss. In a recent conversation with Associated Press journalists, the sponsor of the bill denied that he had used model legislation and consulted a particular group. He said that his constituents expressed concerns and that legislative lawyers helped to craft the language.
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An Associated Press study found that many of the statehouse proposals this year to limit gender-affirming child care are identical to or very similar with some model legislation or ready-made bill suggestions to legislators by interest groups.
The AP obtained from Plural, a software company that specializes in public policy, the text of more than 130 state bills. They then compared them to the model bills promoted by conservative groups Do No Harm, the Family Research Council, and others.
Do No Harm bills and some statehouse bills are similar
model legislation
A
2021 Arkansas bill
The Family Research Council has endorsed this model. The model bills all have preambles that are similar, and include the same assertion - which has been refuted by major medical groups - that the risks associated with gender affirming care outweigh the benefits.
Both bills also contain similar descriptions about how to enforce the provisions and include a list of situations in which care is permitted.
The AP analysis was not comprehensive; not all models of legislation were analyzed or cross-referenced to actual statehouse bills. Here are some of the similarities that were found by the AP:
MONTANA
Montana is home to a wide variety of languages
Senate Bill 99
The model bill of Do No Harm contains the language as it was introduced. The language of the model was largely retained in the version passed by Congress in March. Emails from December reveal that Sen. John Fuller (the Republican sponsor) tweaked Do No Harm’s model before introducing the legislation weeks later.
ARKANSAS
This year's
Arkansas Senate Bill 199
Both the model bill of Do No Harm and the law that has been passed cite similar studies in Europe to argue that gender-affirming health care is not supported by any evidence.
Arkansas Senator Gary Stubblefield is a Republican who is the principal sponsor of Senate Bill 199. He said he has not spoken to Do No Harm regarding the legislation.
IOWA
The preamble to
Iowa Senate File 129
The model of Do No Harm shares many passages.
Iowa Senate File 538
The language of the, which restricts gender affirming care, is similar to that of the
2021 Arkansas bill
The Family Research Council model was the basis for this law, which was signed in March.
Iowa Senator Sandy Salmon, a Republican, who sponsored Senate File 129 and a Republican Governor's spokesperson. Kim Reynolds, the consultant on Senate File 538, did not respond when asked for comment.
MISSISSIPPI
Sponsor of
Mississippi House Bill 1125
In a recent conversation with AP journalists, he denied that he had used model legislation and consulted a particular group. He said that his constituents expressed concerns and that the legislative attorneys assisted in crafting the language.
The bill contains similar language to that of the Family Research Council model in addition to its similarities with Do No Harm. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, Republican Gov.
The sponsor of the bill, Republican state Rep. Gene Newman said that he received the information from staffers in the legislature, who had taken language from bills from other states. He did not know with whom else they may have spoken.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
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New Hampshire bill
The Family Research Council used the Arkansas 2021 bill as a template. The preamble, the definitions and the enforcement process are all identical. The committee is continuing to work on it.
WEST VIRGINIA
The Arkansas 2021 bill, which was used as a template by the Family Research Council, shares the same preamble and definitions as two bills in West Virginia.
West Virginia Bill
The committee that was formed to investigate the death of a woman has now been dissolved.
Similar one
The law was passed in March.
Mark Maynard (a West Virginia Republican) opposed the addition of mental health exemptions. He said during the floor debate that "Fifteen other states already have exactly this language in their codes."
Associated Press journalists from around the country contributed to this report, including Andrew DeMillo, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Amy Beth Hanson, in Helena Montana, Michael Goldberg, and Emily Wagster Pettus, in Jackson, Mississippi, Scott McFetridge, in Des Moines Iowa, Holly Ramer, in Concord, New Hampshire, and Leah Willingham, in Charleston, West Virginia.
Harjai is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America, a nonprofit program of national service that places journalists into local newsrooms in order to cover undercovered topics.