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Utah Gov. Cox signed S.B. 16, banning gender-affirming surgery and new hormone treatment for transgender minors

On January 28, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 16, the "Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendments," one of the earliest state gender-affirming-care bans of the 2023 legislative wave. The law prohibits health care providers from performing sex-characteristic surgical procedures on minors and bars them from starting hormonal transgender treatment for any minor not already diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill's effective date. Minors already diagnosed and in treatment before that date were permitted to continue.

Jurisdiction
Utah
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah

Abuses documented

Actors

On January 28, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 16, the "Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendments," one day after the Legislature sent it to his desk and among the earliest state gender-affirming-care bans enacted in the 2023 legislative wave. The enrolled act prohibits health care providers from performing sex-characteristic surgical procedures on minors for the purpose of effectuating a sex change, and imposes a moratorium barring providers from starting hormonal transgender treatment — puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones — for any new minor patient not already diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the law's effective date. Minors already diagnosed and in treatment before that date were not barred from continuing.

The bill moved quickly. Utah's Republican-majority Legislature considered a first draft roughly ten days before enactment, prioritizing it early in the session that opened January 17. S.B. 16 was sponsored by Sen. Michael S. Kennedy in the Senate and carried by Rep. Katy Hall on the House floor, and was recorded as Session Law Chapter 002 with an effective date of January 28, 2023. In a signing statement, Cox described the measure as pausing "these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients" until more research was available.

Beyond the surgical ban and the hormonal moratorium, the law created new medical-malpractice causes of action and a consent-disaffirmation right extending to age 25 for minors who received the covered treatments. Cox's approval came as lawmakers in at least 18 states weighed similar measures restricting health care for transgender youth.

Updates

2026-03-18 — Utah converted the 2023 hormone moratorium into a permanent ban [4]

In early 2026 Utah lawmakers moved to turn the 2023 law's moratorium on newly prescribed hormonal treatment for transgender minors into a full, permanent ban, advancing House Bill 174 through the Legislature over objections from transgender Utahns and parents; Gov. Cox signed it into law on March 18, 2026.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection and nondiscrimination: government may not deny a class of people medically recognized care because of who they are. Utah singled out transgender minors, barring surgical care and new hormone treatment otherwise available to adolescents and to transgender adults, on the basis of gender identity. This archive records when state law restricts a marginalized group's access to health care, marking an early enactment in the 2023 wave of state measures that narrowed protections for transgender youth.

Sources

  1. S.B. 16 Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendments — Bill Status/History — Utah State Legislature primary accessed July 17, 2026
  2. S.B. 16 Enrolled Copy — 2023 General Session — Utah State Legislature primary accessed July 17, 2026
  3. Utah's governor has signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth — NPR secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  4. Utah lawmakers endorse bill to turn moratorium on transgender care for minors into a full ban — Utah News Dispatch secondary accessed July 17, 2026

See also