Ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect in North Carolina after veto override

Transgender youth in North Carolina on Wednesday lost access to the gender-affirming treatments many credit as live-saving after the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode the Democratic governor's veto of that legislation and others touching on gender in sports and classroom instruction.

GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate enacted —over Gov. Roy Cooper's opposition— a bill barring medical professionals from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and surgical gender-transition procedures to anyone under 18, with limited medical exceptions.

The policy takes effect immediately, but minors who had begun treatment before Aug. 1 may continue receiving that care if their doctors deem it medically necessary and their parents consent.