The Synergistic Health Threats of State Laws Targeting Marginalized Groups in the United States
Kristen Underhill, Valerie A. Earnshaw, Kimberly M. Nelson
Abstract
Discriminatory state laws have deleterious effects on the health of socially marginalized groups. Health care clinicians, institutions, researchers, and research funders have tended to view different discriminatory laws in isolation, focusing on particular issues or groups. In contrast, intersectionality calls attention to the overlapping and synergistic systems of oppression that discriminatory legislation promotes or upholds, warranting an integrated analysis of these laws. In this analytic essay, we assess discriminatory state laws simultaneously and discuss their implications for health care clinicians, institutions, and researchers. We present a multifunctional model of law and population health that describes how discriminatory law affects health outcomes among marginalized groups. We then draw on publicly available legislation trackers to identify 30 states that have enacted legislation since 2020 that targets Black people and other people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people; transgender and nonbinary people; and women and other birthing people. Finally, we call for a coordinated, multilateral, and forceful effort by health care professionals, institutions, researchers, and research funders to counter these laws and address their predictable health consequences. ( Am J Public Health. 2024;114(12):1335–1343. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307830 )