While most states do not have bans on transgender surgery or drugs for children, lawmakers throughout the country have begun introducing such bills amid a growing conversation about the effects these measures could have on minors.
Two weeks ago, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation that bans transgender surgery for minors and pauses the allowance of transgender drugs for minors until further research is conducted on the long-term effects. Four states — Texas, Arizona, Alabama, and Arkansas — imposed rules to restrict transgender health care for minors last year, but judges in Alabama and Arkansas have prevented those bills from going into effect. Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are considering similar legislation.
The South Dakota law includes exceptions for medically necessary procedures used to treat an injury, infection, disease, or disorder. It also makes exceptions for children who are born with both male and female sexual organs, as well as any child who is born with a disorder related to sexual development.
Doctors will be banned from providing these drugs or surgeries to new patients. If a patient is already receiving certain drugs or hormones before the ban goes into effect, the doctor must either terminate those treatments or, if an immediate termination could cause harm to the child’s health, systematically reduce those treatments. The systematic reduction must end by Dec. 31.
If a certified or licensed health care professional violates the law, his or her certification or license will be revoked. Any person who receives these surgeries or drugs as a minor, in violation of the law, will also have legal recourse through civil litigation. Damages can be sought up to the day of the person’s 25th birthday or within three years of the time the person discovered or should have reasonably discovered that the violation caused injury or damages, whichever is later.
“Denying the truth that we are either male or female hurts real people, especially vulnerable children,” Matt Sharp, a senior counsel for the conservative legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement.