Nebraska places 7-day wait period on transgender youth receiving puberty blockers, hormone treatments

Nebraska is now mandating that transgender youth who want to undergo a gender-affirming procedure must wait a full week before beginning puberty blocking medications or hormone treatments. This comes after the emergency regulations were announced on Sunday by the state's health department.

The regulations recently put in place are set to require transgender youth to take part in at least 40 hours of "gender-identity-focused" therapy before receiving any kind of medical treatment meant to affirm what they believe their gender to be, per the Associated Press.

A new law that was put into place on Sunday has outlawed gender-affirming surgeries for youth under the age of 19, and it also requires that the state's chief medical officer draw out how youth can receive other care.

The state Department of Health and Human Services noted that Republican Governor Jim Pillen had approved the emergency regulations after families, doctors, and even some lawmakers claimed that they had received little response from the department on when the regulations would be put into effect, per the report.

Some have claimed Pillen's administration deliberately slow-walked the regulations to block transgender treatment for those who had not started it yet. However, department spokesperson Jeff Powell said that the "law went into effect today, which is when the emergency regulations were put in place," adding that "nothing was slow-walked."

The AP noted that the new regulations are set to remain in effect until the department receives public comments on a more permanent set of rules. It is believed that a final version of the regulations will be presented by the end of October, followed by a public hearing on November 28.

Nebraska's ban on sex-change surgeries for minors and its restrictions on other gender-affirming care have been only a part of nationwide effort by Republicans to prevent children from making irreversible changes to their bodies, including body mutilation and stunting puberty.

There is also some evidence to support the claim that transgenderism could be the result of a social contagion.

Nebraska's recent regulations require that a patient's parents or legal guardian be involved in any treatment that takes place, including the 40 hours of therapy. It also requires that the patient have at least one hour of therapy every three months after the care has been provided in order to "evaluate ongoing effects on a patient's mental health."

The report noted that the seven-day waiting period for puberty blockers or hormone treatments would only begin after a doctor receives a signed consent form from a parent or legal guardian.

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