Oppose Efforts to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Adults

I am writing to urge you to oppose any legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for adults. On a recent podcast appearance, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts openly stated his organization's goal to "outlaw" transgender care for all ages, including adults. This represents an alarming escalation in attacks on the fundamental rights of transgender citizens. Roberts described a strategy of "radical incrementalism," explaining that Heritage is "willing to take a quarter of the enchilada" while working toward a complete ban. This mirrors leaked January 2024 conversations between Ohio Representative Gary Click and Michigan Representative Josh Schriver, who discussed ending care for adults using nearly identical language about taking "one bite at a time." This coordinated strategy reveals that youth care bans were never the endgame but rather the first step toward eliminating transgender people from public life. We have already seen this strategy in action. Florida's SB 254 eliminated 80% of transgender adult care overnight by banning nurse practitioners from providing treatment. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an emergency rule targeting adults with requirements so onerous they constituted a de facto ban. Puerto Rico recently criminalized care for anyone under 21 with penalties up to 15 years in prison. Trump's executive orders ban care to age 19. Attempting to legislate a group of people out of existence is not healthcare policy. It is an attack on the civil rights and bodily autonomy of American citizens. Transgender people deserve the same rights as all citizens to make their own medical decisions in consultation with their doctors. Roberts' statements, backed by the Heritage Foundation's $365,000 in funding specifically earmarked for "Going On Offense On Gender Ideology," make clear this has never been about protecting anyone but about erasing transgender people from society. I urge you to publicly oppose any legislation that would restrict gender-affirming care for adults and to stand against this coordinated effort to deny basic rights to transgender Americans.