Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 164 excluding gender-affirming care for minors from new off-label prescribing protections
On March 19, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 164 (Enrolled Act No. 74) into law, authorizing prescribers and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense FDA-approved drugs for off-label uses and granting them immunity from health-licensing-board discipline. The act expressly withholds that authorization and immunity from any prescription intended to transition a minor's biological sex or affirm a gender identity inconsistent with birth sex, placing gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the same excluded category as Schedule I and II controlled substances and abortion-inducing drugs.
Actors
On March 19, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 164 (Enrolled Act No. 74) into law, creating a statutory authorization for prescribers and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense FDA-approved medications for off-label indications and granting them immunity from health-licensing-board disciplinary action for doing so. The act, codified at W.S. 33-1-401 through 33-1-403, expressly withholds that authorization and immunity from any prescription "intended to transition a minor's biological sex ... or affirm the minor's perception of the minor's sex if that perception is inconsistent with the minor's biological sex," placing gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the same excluded category as Schedule I and II controlled substances and abortion-inducing drugs.
Every other off-label medical use gained new legal protection under the same statute, while care associated with gender transition for minors was singled out to remain exposed to professional discipline. The act directed the state boards of medicine, dental examiners, optometry, nursing, and pharmacy to adopt implementing rules and took effect July 1, 2025.
Why we recorded this
Equal treatment under law bars a state from structuring a legal protection so that a disfavored group's medical care alone is left out. Wyoming granted prescribers broad new immunity for off-label prescribing but wrote in a single exception removing that protection only for gender-affirming care for transgender minors. By carving care tied to a protected characteristic out of an otherwise general professional-conduct protection, the state singles out transgender youth and their providers for continued legal exposure. Building a discriminatory line into an otherwise neutral health law is discriminatory state action against a marginalized community.
Sources
- HB0164 Enrolled Act No. 74 (2025 General Session) — full text — Wyoming Legislature primary accessed July 15, 2026
- HB0164 Bill Digest / legislative history (2025) — Wyoming Legislature secondary accessed July 15, 2026
- Off-label uses of some medications codified in Gordon's latest round of bill signings — Wyoming Public Media secondary accessed July 15, 2026
See also
- Wyoming enacted SF0077 barring state and local government from requiring employees to use colleagues' preferred pronouns
- Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 72 requiring birth-sex use of public restrooms, prison sleeping quarters, and college facilities
- Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed SF0062 requiring K-12 students to use restrooms and facilities matching sex assigned at birth
- Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed SF0044 barring transgender college athletes from women's sports teams
- Wyoming enacted SEA 8, requiring parental opt-in before instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity
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