A nationwide push to restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender minors is setting off a scramble among families whose doctors say the treatments are medically necessary for their children. Laws have passed in at least 13 states this year — including conservative Utah and South Dakota — and are being considered in two dozen more. The new laws have forced families to adapt to a shifting legal landscape with an unforeseen sense of panic and urgency. They worry what will happen if they can’t get the medications they’ve been prescribed, especially as their kids start puberty and their bodies change in ways that can’t be reversed.
