House includes funding limitations if gender affirming care is provided

House amendment 53 states that funding for the Wyoming Department of Health shall not be “expended for any gender transition or gender reassignment procedures, or any procedure for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion on any person.”

“It seems that it is … a good idea to say what we think that money can and cannot be spent on,” Penn said on the House floor Monday night.

In recent discussions with the Wyoming Department of the Health, Penn said she was told that “tens of thousands” of dollars were being used to provide gender affirming treatments.

“Things like hormone therapies, puberty blockers, those types of things. I know that my constituents and many across the state are not favorable to those ideas,” Penn said.

The provision for restricting state dollars for abortion, she said, stems from state law regulating abortion.

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, said that while he agreed with some ideas in the amendment, he disagreed with making policy decisions in the state’s budget.

“I would prefer that we have policy that directs the (Department of Health) to limit the ability of their divisions … to provide procedures or reimburse providers for such things,” Larsen said. “We should develop policy that says, ‘Our policy is that this agency, this division, cannot provide these types of services, not because you can’t get any money.’”

Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, said that the idea behind the amendment is “very simple.”

“It states that state money shall not be used to take a life, or permanently disfigure anyone. I think that is entirely reasonable,” Ward said.

But Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, said that she was concerned the amendment contradicted physicians’ best practices.

“In cases where a young woman is developing breasts at the age of 8, that is not ideal. Then it is appropriate, or a common health practice, to delay her development (with puberty blockers),” Sherwood said. “Or, again, a young gentleman who is developing testes before the age of 9. So, again, an appropriate use of slowing down the child’s development so they can develop at a normal pace. I am against this amendment.”

The budget amendment passed in a 45-17 vote.

The second amendment pertained to a University of Wyoming $14,801,609 appropriation for its family medical residency practice. It would reduce that amount by $100,000 if the practice offers or performs “any gender transition, gender affirmation or gender reassignment treatments.”

“They are offering gender affirming care and access to gender affirming surgeries per their website, easily accessible and anyone can see it,” Penn said. “I don’t think that is the wish of taxpayers to fund this program.”

Penn, a nurse practitioner, said that not only does she have philosophical issues with the practice, but this is not a topic that should be taught to family medicine residents.

“This type of treatment is something that should be handled by an endocrinologist,” Penn said.

Rep. Dan Zwontizer, R-Cheyenne, said that it has never been a policy of the Legislature “to hold funding hostage to tell doctors how to do their jobs correctly.”

He also noted that patients receiving services from the family medical residency practice would be adults.

“We are not talking about kids anymore,” Zwonitzer said. “I think we’re at the point in society, even on this floor, where (we know) there are people, who are in fact, transgender. They, just like every other human being, need some therapy. Need some services. Need some counseling. We are not encouraging them to self-mutilate, to be on any drugs. Sometimes when people come into our family practice clinic, they just need someone to talk to. They just need someone to say, ‘There are other people out there who suffer and have these thoughts and want to figure out their gender dysphoria issues.’

“It is difficult, and it is tough, but we don’t want our family practice clinics to be turning people away,” Zwonitzer said. “Sometimes these are senior citizens. We are not talking about 12-year-olds anymore. I think it is dangerous to go down this path on this amendment.”

Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, asked how the restrictions would be implemented.

“Do they come tattle, or tell the Legislature, that this happened, and this gets defunded? There are federal laws that prohibit this type of information from being disclosed,” Brown said.

Penn reiterated that the amendment did not defend the program completely, but would reduce its allocation by $100,000. The amendment passed in a 34-28 vote.