Oklahomans Strongly Support Making Gender Affirming Care Illegal for Minors

When it comes to physically healthy children or minors, likely voting Oklahomans, by a near two-to-one margin, support making castrations, vasectomies, hysterectomies and mastectomies illegal.

This comes on the heels of the passage of Senate Bill 613 earlier this year. Earlier this month, a group sued the state over the new law.

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Also known by the recently coined progressive term as "gender affirming care," supporters of such medical procedures on minors say that any prohibition is undermining the rights of transgender people and denying medical care to those who need it. Those who support making these medical procedures illegal for minors say that children or minors are not capable of making these medical decisions on their own, and any attempt to allow them is child abuse.

Of the four medical procedures tested, hysterectomy had the highest support for making it illegal at 66.4 percent, followed by castration at 64.7 percent, mastectomy at 64.4 percent, and vasectomy at 61.9 percent.

[QUESTION: SUPPORT OF OPPOSE MAKING IT ILLEGAL] "Castration, which is the removal of the testicles from a biologically-born male, thereby permanently eliminating one's ability to father a child."

1. Strongly support it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 56.4%
2. Somewhat support 8.3
3. COMBINED SUPPORT 64.7
4. Don't know 9.4
5. Somewhat oppose 7.5
6. Strongly oppose it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 18.4
7. COMBINED OPPOSE 25.9

[QUESTION: SUPPORT OF OPPOSE MAKING IT ILLEGAL] "Vasectomy, a surgery conducted in biologically-born males to prevent them from fathering a child in the future."

1. Strongly support it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 54.2%
2. Somewhat support 7.7
3. COMBINED SUPPORT 61.9
4. Don't know 10.9
5. Somewhat oppose 8.9
6. Strongly oppose it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 18.3
7. COMBINED OPPOSE 27.2

[QUESTION: SUPPORT OF OPPOSE MAKING IT ILLEGAL] "Hysterectomy, which is the removal of all or part of the uterus in biologically-born females, thereby permanently preventing one's ability to ever become pregnant."

1. Strongly support it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 57.1%
2. Somewhat support 9.3
3. COMBINED SUPPORT 66.4
4. Don't know 9.8
5. Somewhat oppose 8.1
6. Strongly oppose it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 15.7
7. COMBINED OPPOSE 23.8

[QUESTION: SUPPORT OF OPPOSE MAKING IT ILLEGAL] "Mastectomy, which is the complete or partial removal of breast tissue from biologically-born females."

1. Strongly support it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 57.6%
2. Somewhat support 6.8
3. COMBINED SUPPORT 64.4
4. Don't know 9.5
5. Somewhat oppose 7.7
6. Strongly oppose it being made ILLEGAL for healthy children or minors to receive 18.4
7. COMBINED OPPOSE 26.1

While Republicans overwhelmingly support making all of the medical procedures for children illegal, Democrats were divided. Nearly one-in-four Democrats responded "Don't know" or had not yet developed an opinion on the issue. The remaining Democrats were roughly divided over their either support or opposition to making each of the medical procedures illegal. Independents were more likely to have an opinion than Democrats on the medical procedures but were more likely to support making them illegal than Democrats overall.

Again, self-identified conservatives were overwhelmingly in support of making the medical procedures illegal, with a majority of self-identified moderates supporting it as well. Slight majorities or pluralities of those who identify as "very liberal" opposed making the medical procedures illegal.

Younger likely voters were typically less likely to support making any of the medical procedures illegal, but support grows as the age of the respondents increase.

‍About the Poll

SoonerPoll.com, Oklahoma’s public opinion pollster, asked these questions of Oklahoma likely voters.

The scientific study was conducted from June 1-4, 2023 with 302 likely Oklahoma voters selected at random statewide from SoonerPoll's proprietary online panel. The sample was weighted by education, age, and congressional district in order to reflect the Oklahoma likely voter population for a general election. The weighting was conducted using a 'layered technique.'

The sample reflects the traditional demographical profile of the Oklahoma likely voter with roughly half of respondents identifying as conservative and nearly a third identifying as Moderate. The study has a Margin of Error (MoE) of ±5.65 percent.

A complete description of the methodology can be found here.