Transgender health: Comparing model bills to real proposals
Many of this year’s statehouse proposals to restrict gender-affirming care for youths, as introduced or enacted, are identical or very similar to some model legislation, or ready-made bills suggested to lawmakers by interest groups, an Associated Press analysis has found.
The AP obtained the texts of more than 130 bills in 40 state legislatures from Plural, a public policy software company, and analyzed them for similarities to model bills touted by the conservative groups Do No Harm and the Family Research Council.
Some statehouse bills share similarities with Do No Harm’s model legislation and a 2021 Arkansas bill endorsed as a model by the Family Research Council. The model bills have similar preambles, including the assertion — rebutted by major medical organizations — that the risks of gender-affirming care outweigh its benefits.
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Nearly all the language in Montana Senate Bill 99, as introduced, can be found in Do No Harm’s model bill. The version that passed in March retained much of the model’s language. Publicly available emails from December show the Republican sponsor, Sen. John Fuller, tweaked Do No Harm’s model before introducing it weeks later.