A pair of lawmakers in Ohio plan to introduce legislation that would outlaw doctors from assisting a minor with a transgender procedure.
Republican state Rep. Ron Hood said Tuesday that he plans to introduce the Protect Vulnerable Children Act with Republican state Rep. Bill Dean sometimes this week. Under provisions in the upcoming proposal, doctors would be charged with a third-degree felony if they perform transgender procedures on patients under the age of 18.
“My No. 1 concern, by far and away, is the irreversible nature of these procedures,” Hood said. “These procedures, most of them, lead to sterilization. And these things are not reversible.”
[Also read: Texas father blocked from stopping gender transition of son James, 7, to girl called Luna]
Similar bills have been proposed in at least 10 other states, including in Florida, where transgender activists protested a bill that would outlaw puberty blocking medications, prescribing estrogen to males or testosterone to female youths.
“What we are concerned about here is Ohio’s most vulnerable children are being subjected to experimental, unproven, and expensive treatments and surgeries,” Hood said at a Tuesday news conference. “Obviously, these procedures bring about sterilization which is a very, very permanent decision that is being made at such a young age.”
Hood said that under the bill, parents could also file civil suits against doctors for performing therapeutic or surgical procedures on minors.
“Families are being coerced, and these kids are being gaslighted by the medical community into believing this fantasy. They are being told that they can actually be the opposite sex,” a mother named Maria said at the Tuesday press conference.
The ACLU of Ohio slammed the upcoming proposal, labeling it a “harmful” attack on transgender youth, and Equality Ohio plans to fight the legislation, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
“It’s time to stop these harmful attacks on transgender youth and focus on issues that really matter to the people of Ohio. Healthcare decisions should be made between doctors and patients, not politicians. #TransRightsAreHumanRights,” the ACLU of Ohio tweeted Tuesday.
