Res 0793-2025

Whereas, According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), 26 states have in place bans or restrictions on accessing or utilizing gender affirming care for youth as of December 2024; and Whereas, Some of these states, according to HRC, have also moved to ban care for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and/or Non-Binary (TGNCNB) people up to 26 years of age; and Whereas, According to HRC, gender affirming care is age-appropriate care that is medically necessary for the well-being of many TGNCNB people, many of whom experience gender dysphoria or distress from the misalignment of their gender identity and sex assigned at birth; and Whereas, According to HRC, gender affirming care encompasses a range of medications and procedures, including (1) puberty blockers, a type of medication that can temporarily delay or pause puberty; (2) hormone replacement therapy, the use of prescription medications that synthesize either testosterone or estrogen; and (3) gender affirming surgery, which encompasses a range of procedures that may change certain features of the body to align with a person's gender identity; and Whereas, According to HRC, gender affirming care is delivered in an age-appropriate, evidence-based manner, with every major medical and mental health organization, comprising over 1.3 million doctors across the United States and including (1) the American Medical Association; (2) The American Academy of Pediatrics; and (3) The American Psychological Association, recognizing its medical necessity for TGNCNB individuals; and Whereas, According to the most recent Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey on sexual orientation and gender identity, published in June 2022 and using data collected from 2019 and 2020, which is managed and published by New York State's ("State") Department of Health (DOH), about 0.6% of New York City's ("City") population identifies as transgender; and Whereas, According to the Williams Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, there are an estimated 706,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people living in the New York metro area, the most in the United States, and about 34,800 TGNCNB youth and 81,800 TGNCNB adults living in the State, some of which will require or do require gender affirming care; and Whereas, S.1633/A.2613 would help to protect those New Yorkers who identify as transgender and receive gender affirming care, those who travel to New York to receive gender affirming care, and their family members from unjust criminal prosecution by allowing patients to restrict access to and the dissemination of private medical data that some states may consider incriminating; and Whereas, S.1633/A.2613 would similarly protect those individuals who seek abortion care in New York; and Whereas, According to the Guttmacher Institute, 12 states have totally banned abortion care, 7 states have banned abortion at or before 18 weeks gestation, and 22 states have banned abortion at some point after 18 weeks gestation, meaning a total of 41 states have some type of abortion restrictions; and Whereas, According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), induced abortion ends a pregnancy with medication or a medical procedure; and Whereas, the DOH breaks abortion care down into two categories, (1) medical abortion, which is offered up to 11 weeks after the first day of a patient's last menstrual period and involves the administration of two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, or generic versions thereof; and (2) in-clinic abortions, in which suction is used to take pregnancy tissue out of a patient's uterus; and Whereas, According to ACOG, major complications requiring hospitalization following an abortion procedure are rare; and Whereas, According to the City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), as reported in the Summary of Vital Statistics 2021 published in February 2024, there were around 19.9 pregnancy terminations per 1,000 females aged 15 to 44 years old in the city in 2021; and Whereas, A New York State doctor, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, and her company were indicted by a grand jury in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor, according to the Associated Press; and Whereas, While this case, as it relates to New York State, affects a provider and not a patient or patient's family member, it highlights the potential threats a New Yorker or someone who travels to New York may face should they receive abortion or gender affirming care and travel to, move to, or return to a state that has bans on gender affirming care or abortion care in effect; and Whereas, Even prior to Dr. Carpenter's case, New York State had passed a law, S.1066B/A.1709B in 2023, which provides certain legal protections for reproductive health service providers, including protection from extradition, arrest, and legal proceedings in other states relating to the provision of legally protected health activities, such as providing abortion medication; and Whereas, The State has passed other laws aimed at protecting those who provide and receive abortion, reproductive, and gender affirming care, including bills like S.36A/A.2145A of 2025, which will allow prescription labels for medical abortion drugs to list the name of the healthcare practice instead of the provider, S.9384A/A.9818A of 2021, which provides address confidentiality to protect reproductive health care services providers, employees, volunteers, patients, or their immediate family members, and S.2475B/A.6046B of 2023, which provides a number of protections for providers of gender affirming care, those providers' patients, and the parents of said patients; and Whereas, S.1633/A.2613 would add to these robust protections by allowing patients to restrict access to their sensitive health information, and further defend the rights of New Yorkers to receive reproductive and gender affirming care; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.1633/A.2613, which would provide additional protections for the sensitive health information of patients, including information related to abortion or gender affirming care, and require all health information networks, electronic health record systems, and health care providers to provide patients with a right to restrict the disclosures of such patient's health information. LS 18674 2/24/2025 JN