Great news for the children in Iowa!
Iowa has become the latest state to ban gender-affirming procedures on minors after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law on March 22.
Reynolds also signed into law a second bill banning transgender students from entering school bathrooms or changing rooms that do not correspond with their biological genders.
The first bill, SF 538, prevents doctors in Iowa from prescribing dangerous puberty blockers or hormone therapy treatments to children under the age of 18. Additionally, the law also prohibits any “gender transition procedures” that would “affirm the minor’s perception of the minor’s gender or sex.”
The second bill, SF 482, prohibits transgender students from using school restrooms or locker rooms that do not correspond with their biological genders.
Both laws are effective immediately, however, doctors who are already administering gender-affirming care to minors will have 180 days before they will be forced to end treatment.
FOX News reported:
Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two bills into law on Wednesday that ban gender care for minors and prevent transgender school students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
The first bill prevents doctors in Iowa from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy treatments to children under the age of 18. Additionally, the law also prohibits any “gender transition procedures” that would “affirm the minor’s perception of the minor’s gender or sex.”
“I’m a parent. I’m a grandmother. I know how difficult this is,” Reynolds said, according to The Gazette, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based newspaper. “This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. And I don’t like it.”
“But I have to do what I believe, right now, is in the best interest of the kids until we can have some more research done, or we can see what’s happening in some of the other countries that have been doing this, to better understand the impact. I think that’s reasonable,” she added.
Any doctor who is found in violation of the new law, according to the measure’s text, is “subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate licensing board or entity.” The measure also allows for individuals to take legal action against doctors who perform gender transitions on minors.
Reynolds’ signing of the measure, in accordance with the bill’s text, forces minors who are currently receiving gender transition procedures in Iowa to forgo the care in 180 days.
The other bill signed into law by Reynolds was Senate File 482, which is an act “prohibiting persons from entering single and multiple occupancy restrooms or changing areas and other facilities in elementary and secondary schools that do not correspond with the person’s biological sex.”
Any doctor who is found in violation of the new law, according to the measure’s text, is “subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate licensing board or entity.” The measure also allows for individuals to take legal action against doctors who perform gender transitions on minors.
Reynolds’ signing of the measure, in accordance with the bill’s text, forces minors who are currently receiving gender transition procedures in Iowa to forgo the care in 180 days.
The other bill signed into law by Reynolds was Senate File 482, which is an act “prohibiting persons from entering single and multiple occupancy restrooms or changing areas and other facilities in elementary and secondary schools that do not correspond with the person’s biological sex.”
