West Virginia lawmakers push to remove a suicide risk exemption from gender-affirming care bill

Some Republican lawmakers in West Virginia want to ban transgender youth at risk for self-harm or suicide from accessing medical interventions such as hormone therapy.

The GOP-controlled Legislature banned such interventions last year while allowing the self-harm and suicide exception. Now, a group of lawmakers want to eliminate that narrow definition, which requires parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two medical professionals, both of whom must provide written testimony that medical interventions are necessary to prevent or limit possible or actual self-harm.

Coming up against a major legislative deadline next week, lawmakers in