At least eight states are considering legislation that would outlaw or otherwise restrict gender transition procedures for children who believe themselves to be “transgender,” according to USA Today.
South Dakota has already passed such a law, which includes a punishment of up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for “doctors who provide hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers, and gender confirmation surgery to children younger than 16 years old.” Similar legislation is being considered in the states of Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida.
The man who started this movement, South Dakota State Representative Fred Deutsch (R-S.D.), said that he introduced the legislation to protect children from medical abuse, and from undergoing procedures at a young age that they may regret as adults. In a statement, Representative Deutsch said “the solution for children’s identification with the opposite sex isn’t to poison their bodies with mega-doses of the wrong hormones, to chemically or surgically castrate and sterilize them, or to remove healthy breasts and reproductive organs.”
Chase Strangio, an activist lawyer with the far-left American Civil Liberties Union, has vowed to fight against such legislation, claiming without evidence that such bills are being promoted by groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation.