(NewsNation) — In the wake of a number of states passing legislation to ban or restrict gender-affirming care for youth across the country, the mayor of New York City on Monday signed an executive order protecting it.

This order, according to a news release, prevents the city from using resources to detain any person providing, or receiving, gender-affirming health care services in New York City.

“As states across the nation continue their onslaught of attacks on our LGBTQ+ neighbors, New York City is doing what we have always done — standing up for justice and against discrimination,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “This executive order reaffirms the fact that hate has no place in our city and that all people deserve the right to gender-affirming care and protection against prosecution for being who they are. To LGBTQ+ people across the nation feeling hurt, isolated, or threatened, we have a clear message for you: New York City has and will always be a welcoming home for you.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, about 20 states have a law or policy banning gender-affirming care for minors. The HRC says 30.9% of transgender youth live in states that have passed these bans.

In some of these states, per NYC’s press release, if a health care provider violates these bans, that state could request that the city detain them. However, Executive Order 32 makes it so city resources can’t be used by another state to prosecute or investigate people giving or getting gender-affirming care.

Medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have come out in opposition to legislation denying gender-affirming care.

“The AMA opposes the dangerous intrusion of government into the practice of medicine and the criminalization of health care decision-making,” AMA Board Member Dr. Michael Suk said in 2021. “Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that improves the physical and mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people.”

NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz echoed these sentiments in a statement Monday.

“Health care is a basic human right and no one should be punished for providing or seeking care that is essential to a person’s physical, mental and emotional well-being,” Katz said.