A bill to protect sexually confused minors from experimental, damaging medical interventions has passed the South Dakota House, with 60 state representatives voting for the measure and 10 voting against it.
South Dakota is one of several states where legislation has been introduced to protect children from harmful and disfiguring puberty blockers, opposite sex hormones and surgeries – treatments that transgender activists euphemistically call “gender-affirming care.”
Norman Woods is executive director of Family Heritage Alliance, a Focus on the Family ally that supports government policies that protect life, strengthen families and safeguard religious freedom.
Woods explained how House Bill 1080, the “Help Not Harm” legislation, protects children:
The bill makes it illegal to perform/prescribe “gender transition” surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers to minor children. It also provides a pathway for someone to collect damages later in life if they are harmed and subjects doctors to review by the medical board for Unprofessional Conduct if they perform the surgeries or prescribe the puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones (his emphasis).
Most of us wouldn’t think of a conservative state like South Dakota as a hub for transgender activism, but as Woods wrote last December:
Sanford Health Research Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is joining the movement of medical professionals who are promoting child abuse.
The research center is partnering with the Transformation Project, an organization with a mission of “supporting and empowering transgender youth” to put on the 3rd annual Midwest Gender Identity Summit, which will be held on January 13, 2023 at the Sanford Research Center. …
The session topics include, “Supporting Your Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Patients and Coworkers,” “Learning to Address Implicit Bias Towards LGBTQ+ & 2S Patients,” and “Gender Affirming Care and The Attitude of Affirmation in Assessment” (his emphasis).
He explained that Sanford “serves over one million patients, runs 47 medical centers, and employs 2,800 doctors.” The health care non-profit operates in seven states and five countries.
National Review reported that Sanford “currently employs nearly seven times more South Dakotans than any other business in the state,” adding that the company helped stop legislation in 2017 that would have protected women’s sports.
The outlet said that Sanford, with $7.5 billion in resources in 2019, “has frustrated conservative efforts to pass” various “anti-gender-ideology measures in South Dakota.” National Review reported:
The health-care company sells puberty blockers and performs “gender-reassignment” surgery. Its lobbyists appeared at the state legislature to oppose legislative initiatives including conscience rights for medical practitioners who object to performing abortions and sex-change operations, and a ban on puberty blockers and sex-reassignment surgery for children under 16. Both proposals ultimately failed to pass.
Several other states have introduced “Help Not Harm” measures that would protect children. Here are some of those states, along with links to state-based policy groups and more information about the legislation:
- Iowa – SF 129
- Missouri – HB 419 and SB 49
- Montana – SB 99
- Nebraska – LB 574
- Texas – SB 625 and HB 1686
As legislators work to protect minors from these damaging medical interventions, it’s important to remember that many of these children are experiencing deep distress. They are often in painful psychological turmoil where they hate their bodies, reject the sex they were born, and long to live as the opposite sex.
Many of these minors have experienced trauma or have other mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, autism spectrum disorder, eating disorder and psychosis. They need real help for these problems, not the mutilation and destruction of their bodies.
In addition, research and the testimonies of those who “medically transitioned” demonstrate that puberty blockers, hormones and surgery do not bring peace and health.
Norman Woods vividly describes what Sanford Health Research Center and other health care professionals are perpetrating on minors:
These puberty blockers are the same substances used to chemically castrate sex offenders. They’ve also been proven to cause sterilization, brain development issues, bone density loss, and much more.
Gender reassignment surgeries include double mastectomies, genital surgeries and hysterectomies on children as young as 15. Doctors are mutilating healthy bodies and affirming lies that are causing children to suffer. This is the opposite of “healthcare” – it’s child abuse (his emphasis).
If you’re concerned about safeguarding children and want to help protect life, families and religious freedom, contact your state-based family policy council and see how you can become engaged in these important issues.
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’
Important New Journal Article Calls Out Doctors for Harming Youth with Medicalized Gender Ideology
Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria – Researcher’s Work Vindicated
Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?
Utah Becomes Sixth State to Protect Minors from Experimental ‘Gender Transition’ Procedures
