Lawmakers in the Louisiana state Senate passed a bill on Monday to ban hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and sex change surgeries for minors.
House Bill 648, known as the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act,” was revived after having been killed by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee last month. It will now return to the House to approve minor amendments.
The legislation passed along party lines in a 29–10 vote and, if passed in the House, which already voted overwhelming in favor of the bill, will go to the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who supports “gender-affirming care” and opposes the measure.
Among the amendments is a provision to push back the effective date of the law to Jan. 1, 2024.
It is unclear if Edwards will veto the bill. He previously signed a law banning transgender athletes from playing in Louisiana sports competitions if their biological sex didn’t match the team’s gender designation. However, last year he did veto a similar bill.
The bill previously met a fatal obstacle in late May by the tie-breaking vote of Republican state Sen. Fred Mills, who faced backlash for his decision, which came after a three-hour Senate panel debate.
Mills, who is the chairman of the Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee, acknowledged the polarizing nature of the transgender issues, saying that he relied on “science and data and not political or societal pressure.”
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who is a GOP gubernatorial candidate, and the state GOP urged lawmakers to resurrect the bill and pass it.
In recent times, several states led by Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation with the stated goal of safeguarding minors from potentially irreversible transgender surgeries and medical treatments. These measures have ignited debates between proponents who argue for the necessity of providing care to transgender youth and opponents who assert the potential harms involved.
While mainstream medical associations consider “gender-affirming” treatments as standard care for transgender individuals, there have been cases where individuals who have undergone such treatments later expressed regret. These individuals, often referred to as “detransitioners,” have shared their experiences and concerns with lawmakers.
They have advocated for bans on gender surgeries and treatments for minors, asserting that they faced negative consequences affecting their overall well-being and quality of life. Some parents of transgender minors have also voiced concerns, stating that they felt pressured to consent to their child’s transition.
“This isn’t complicated. Kids should not have access to permanent medical procedures in order to affirm an identity that they might outgrow,” said Republican state Sen. Jeremy Stine.
Under the current regulations in Louisiana, minors under 18 are required to obtain parental consent before they can access hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and other treatments for gender dysphoria, which is characterized as distress over gender identity that doesn’t match a person’s biological sex.
The Bill
According to the bill’s text, the legislation prohibits health care professionals from performing specific actions that aim to change the physical appearance of a minor in order to affirm their gender identity, especially when it does not align with their biological sex.Doctors and health care professionals could potentially have their medical licenses revoked for at least two years if they provide certain hormones or drugs, perform sterilizing surgeries, create artificial genitalia, remove healthy body parts, or carry out aesthetic surgical procedures on minors.
However, there are some cases where these prohibitions do not apply. The bill allows for the treatment of minors who have medically confirmed disorders of sex development or disorders of sexual development. Additionally, treatment for infections, injuries, diseases, or disorders that are caused or worsened by actions prohibited under the bill would still be allowed.
Minors already undergoing treatments that violate the proposed law can gradually have their dosages reduced and discontinued. This period must not extend beyond Dec. 31, 2023.
The proposed law also allows people who have been harmed by violations of the act to take legal action. They can file civil lawsuits to seek compensation for damages, ask for court orders to stop the harmful actions, request declarations of their rights, ask for their legal fees to be paid, and seek other appropriate remedies.
