South Dakota lawmakers are expected to vote Wednesday on legislation that would limit doctors from prescribing puberty-blocking or hormone drugs and performing sex reassignment surgeries on persons under the age of 16.
Supporters of the bill believe that transgender adolescents under 16 are too young to begin a medical transition to the opposite sex. Opponents, including doctors, Democrats, libertarians, and transgender people, say it will harm the teenagers who seek treatment and incriminate doctors, who could face up to one year in jail for violating the law. Lawmakers who voted against the bill said they heard from young transgender people and their families who said the treatment had proven integral to the child’s well-being.
The bill was introduced last year by Rep. Fred Deutsch, who says he was inspired by stories on the internet of people who regretted their decision. “I Googled ‘transgender medicine South Dakota,’ and I found a handful of doctors, not many, that do the procedures,” Deutsch said, “and that’s the genesis of the concept of this bill.”
Deutsch argues that adolescents are too young to make life-altering decisions that cannot be undone and has called for hormone treatment and sex reassignment surgery for those ages to be considered “criminal acts.”
Support for the bill is strong among social conservatives in South Dakota’s Republican-controlled legislature, though Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has said she has “a few concerns.” On Friday, Noem declined to offer her full support or disapproval.
The bill cleared a committee vote last Wednesday after a near-four-hour hearing, with three Republicans breaking with their party to oppose it.
The legislation marks South Dakota as the first of several states beginning action to restrict teenagers’ gender expression, with legislation pending in South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Some states’ bills would allow parents to be reported to child welfare agencies and doctors’ licenses suspended or revoked.
Deutsch’s bill shares language with other states’ proposed bills.
South Dakota’s Republican supermajority in the state legislature has made it a proving ground for controversial issues. The state was one of the first to pass a law restricting transgender students’ bathroom use in 2016, though this was later halted by the governor.
Deutsch was advised on his bill by the Kelsey Coalition, a volunteer-run advocacy group that operates nationally, and the Liberty Council.
