evidence: TRANSGENDER WOMAN FINISHES IN FIRST PLACE AT NEW YORK CITY CYCLING EVENT, SPARKS OUTRAGE "Gender-affirming care is life-saving health care," Finke told reporters ahead of debate on the bill. "Withholding or delaying gender-affirming care can have a dramatic impact on the mental health of any individual who needs it. Rates of depression, suicide, substance abuse are dramatically higher in transgender and gender-expansive individuals who lack access to care." [...] "The most insidious aspect of this bill is the language that adds children who are being denied ‘gender-affirming care’ (defined as everything from therapy to hormone blockers, to transition surgery) to what amounts to the definition for a child ‘in need of protection or services’ in Minnesota, allowing the courts to take ‘emergency custody’ of the child," said Bob Roby, a licensed attorney in Minnesota with more than 30 years experience in family and juvenile court. [...] "This kind of court power has a long-standing precedent in Minnesota for keeping children safe. When a child is at risk of being harmed by a parent or custodian, the state has immediate authority to remove and protect the child from harm. Without this, there would be no way to protect children in those situations," Roby told Fox News Digital in an email. "To add children who are being denied ‘gender affirming care’ to the definition of children in need of this kind of drastic emergency action is obviously unwarranted."