the families say they fear for their childrens mental and physical health as some studies have shown genderaffirming care has been found to improve mental health of transgender youth the ban prohibits puberty blockers hormones crosshormone therapy and genderaffirming surgery for people under the age of 18 she continued this ban takes away our right to provide her with the next step in her recommended treatment when she reaches puberty however major national medical associations including the american academy of pediatrics the american medical association the american academy of child and adolescent psychiatry and over 20 more agree that genderaffirming care is safe effective beneficial and medically necessary for transgender people more map where genderaffirming care is being targeted in the us another family called the boes for anonymity are also challenging the ban on behalf of their 14yearold son the families behind the lawsuit have transgender youth who would be impacted by the restriction like most parents my husband and i want nothing more than for our daughter to be healthy happy and safe said jane doe concerning her 11yearold daughter in the release being able to consult with our team of doctors to understand what our daughter is experiencing and make the best most informed decisions about her care has been critically important for our family four florida families filed a lawsuit thursday in federal court against floridas surgeon general joseph ladapo board of medicine and board of osteopathic medicine over the state ban against genderaffirming care for transgender youth according to the press release regarding the suit the does are a military family who moved to florida when john doe was stationed there as a senior officer in the us navy the restrictions on hormones and puberty blockers wont apply to young people already being prescribed those medications prior to when the law took effect allowing previous patients to continue with treatment my son has a right to receive appropriate evidencebased medical care that has been ripped away by this cruel and discriminatory rule genderaffirming care has been targeted across the country with at least eight states with policies or laws that restrict it jane doe said she has concerns about her 11yearold daughter receiving the care she needs but im not wasting my time on your stunt in an email from the department of health to abc news a spokesperson responded with a gif of gov ron desantis that stated if you want to waste your time on a stunt thats fine florida surgeon general joseph ladapo speaks at a press conference where gov ron desantis announced the expansion of a new piloted substance abuse and re show more sopa imageslightrocket via getty images this ban puts me and other florida parents in the nightmare position of not being able to help our child when they need us most said brenda boe