Military veterans, families and active-duty service members with transgender children say a provision added to Congress’s annual defense policy bill targeting some medical treatments for trans minors is a “slap in the face” rooted in misinformation and misunderstanding about the trans community.

The provision in the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) negotiated by the House and Senate would prevent TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering gender dysphoria treatments “that could result in sterilization” for children under 18.

A more specific provision adopted by the Senate Armed Services Committee in its defense bill in July would have explicitly barred coverage for “affirming hormone therapy” and puberty blockers, as well as medical interventions for gender dysphoria — distress that stems from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and sex at birth — for minors that “could result in sterilization.”

Hormone treatments, typically involving doses of testosterone or estrogen, have mixed effects on fertility, and puberty-blocking drugs, which stave off physical changes like the development of breasts or a deepening voice, are not known to substantially impact fertility on their own.

“With policies like this, and we’ve seen them in states and at the federal level, legislators and politicians and leaders within our system of government are not listening to experts,” said Branden Marty, a Navy veteran with a transgender daughter.

“What is gender-affirming care? It's working with healthcare professionals who have expertise in this area to help support parents so that transgender or nonbinary child understands themselves and gets to the place of being able to live their daily life in school and at home and have a positive self-appreciation of themselves,” he said.

Major medical groups have said gender-affirming health care for transgender adults and minors is medically necessary and can be lifesaving. They reject efforts by state and federal governments to restrict treatment.

Other GOP-backed proposals to reverse the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy and prohibit TRICARE from covering gender-affirming care for transgender service members were dropped from the final bill, suggesting Republicans believe the ban on care for minors isn’t enough to prevent most members from approving the measure as is.

At least one Democrat, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), has said he will vote against the NDAA over the prohibition, and others, including Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), refused to move the bill forward Tuesday, citing “ideological riders” in legislation that typically enjoys bipartisan support.

On Tuesday,........

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