Atlanta City Council calls for police to ‘deprioritize’ enforcement of gender-affirming care law

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Atlanta City Council is considering a resolution that would call for the Atlanta Police Department to “deprioritize” enforcement of Senate Bill 140, a law that bans gender-affirming care for minors in Georgia.

SB 140 bans doctors in Georgia from administering hormone replacement therapy or performing gender-affirming surgery on minors. The bill received substantial pushback from parents of transgender youth and doctors who administer gender-affirming care such as testosterone or estradiol. Those medications help a patient’s body physically align with their gender identity.

The council said “the law strips Georgia’s youth and parents of their right to make critical decisions about their children’s health care, including seeking and obtaining appropriate medical treatment, inflicting undue harm on one of the state’s most vulnerable groups.”

Gender-affirming surgery is uncommon among minors. Dr. Jason Schneider at Emory University said, “Surgical care is rarely if ever, offered to people under eighteen” and called the law “an unnecessary intrusion into medical practice.”

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Geraghty issued an injunction against the hormone replacement therapy ban in August. A federal appeals court in Alabama let a similar ban proceed later that month.

The resolution calls for limits to be placed on city funds.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, in accordance with this Resolution, the Atlanta City Council hereby requests that except to the extent otherwise required by State or Federal law, City funds will not be used to:
· Store or catalog any report of HRT or other conduct that could be prosecuted under state laws criminalizing hormone-related health issues; and
· Provide information to any other governmental body or agency about any HRT or hormone-related healthcare that could be prosecuted under state laws criminalizing hormone-related healthcare, unless such information is provided to defend the patient’s right to hormone-related care or the healthcare provider’s right to provide that care; and
· Conduct surveillance or collect data or other information related to any individual, organization, location vehicle, action, financial record or internet activity for the purpose of determining whether HRT has occurred, except for the collection of aggregated data without personally identifying information or personal health information for purposes unrelated to criminal investigation, enforcement or prosecution.
Atlanta City Council Resolution 23-R-3818

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