Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, on Thursday moved to ban transition-related care for transgender minors.

According to NBC 6 in Miami, the DeSantis administration took action after Florida's agency responsible for administrating Medicaid (Agency for Health Care Administration) issued a 46-page report in which it justified banning Medicaid coverage for puberty blockers, hormone therapies, or gender-reassigment surgery for transgender people of any age.

In a letter written to the state board that regulates doctors, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who oversees the Health Department, asked for a ban on transition-related health care for transgender minors.

Ladapo used the report's findings to justify his request.

“The Agency ultimately concluded that 'Available medical literature provides insufficient evidence that sex reassignment through medical interventions is a safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria,'” Ladapo wrote. “I encourage the Board to review the Agency's findings and the Department's guidance to establish a standard of care for these complex and irreversible procedures.”

NBC 6 noted that the “two-pronged effort ensures DeSantis can act quickly and without need for legislative approval.”

Gary Howell, a psychologist in Tampa who sees transgender patients, told NBC 6 that such a policy would endanger the lives of transgender children who are at increased risk of suicide already.

According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, banning transition-related care for minors insured through Medicaid would impact approximately 9,000 Floridians.

HRC State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley called the DeSantis administration's moves politically motivated.

“Gender-affirming care is lifesaving – that, unlike the material in this report, is a fact – and this medical care is neither experimental, nor new,” Oakley said. “It is supported by the overwhelming majority of medical associations, representing more than 1.3 million doctors in the United States. This controversy is entirely contrived for partisan political purposes, but will cause very real harm to the thousands of folks impacted.”

“This, in addition to the ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ law and the ‘Stop WOKE Act,’ prove that Ron DeSantis and his administration care only about using LGBTQ+ people in an attempt to rile up their base and tell people in Florida how to live their lives. This is wrong, this is destructive, and it is discrimination, plain and simple. The Human Rights Campaign will do everything in its power to oppose all of these actions,” Oakley said.