by Alexa Schwerha
University of Florida (UF) health centers reported an uptick in the number of transgender patients, fulfilling a request by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in January, UF student newspaper the Independent Florida Alligator reported.
The Florida Office of Policy and Budget sent a memo to university leaders on Jan. 11 demanding reports about the number of patients treated for gender dysphoria at affiliated health centers. UF Health reported an increase in sex change treatments including puberty blocker prescription, hormone therapy, surgery and behavioral services at its various clinics since 2018, according to the reports obtained by the Alligator.
UF Health’s Gainesville clinic saw a 150 percent increase in transgender treatments, according to the report. The clinic saw 410 patients in 2022 compared to 164 in 2018, many of which were first time treatment encounters.
The clinic also reported a 142.2 percent increase in patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria either before, during or after appointments between 2018 and 2022. There was a reported 45 percent increase in patients prescribed with puberty blockers and 174.3 percent increase in patients prescribed hormones.
There was an approximate 17 percent decrease in overall sex change surgeries performed at the Gainesville clinic, but a 100 percent increase in vasectomies and a 550 percent increase in breast augmentations between 2018 and 2022, according to the report.
The UF Health Jacksonville clinic reported lowered numbers and treated 16 patients in 2018 and 10 in 2022, according to the report. Nearly half of these numbers were first time treatment encounters in both years.
The clinic only reported one puberty blocker prescription in 2018, and the number of hormone prescriptions decreased from 10 to six between 2018 and 2022, the report reads. The number of patients that received some sort of sex change surgery increased from two to three and cited a breast augmentation, a hysterectomy and a phalloplasty.
The university reportedly did not tell the Alligator why the DeSantis administration requested the information. The memo said the reports furthered “the Governor’s constitutional duty as Florida’s chief executive officer to take care that the laws of this State be faithfully executed,” Politico reported.
The memo reportedly requested the number of patients “prescribed puberty blockers, hormones or hormone antagonists, or underwent a medical procedure.” Universities had until Feb. 10 to respond.
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Alexa Schwerha is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “University of Florida” by University of Florida.
