Idaho, Indiana and Kentucky join the growing list of states protecting children with sexual identity confusion from experimental, damaging “transgender” medical procedures.

Euphemistically called “gender affirming care” by trans activists, irreversible medical interventions such as puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries actually cause great harm to children confused about their sexual identity.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 480, the Help Not Harm Act, on April 5. The law prohibits physicians or other practitioners from providing “gender transition procedures to a minor,” and it allows those who might receive such procedures to sue for damages.

Family Policy Alliance (FPA) Director of Strategy Meridian Baldacci reacted to the signing:

Today, Indiana has sent a clear message: they take child safety seriously. When a child is deeply struggling, he or she deserves meaningful help – not the harm of hormones and surgery.

And these interventions do cause serious harm. They often leave young people sterile, with a variety of irreversible maladies and physical changes, and the deep pain of regret. All this can happen before a child is even old enough to buy cough syrup over the counter.

Baldacci thanked the Indiana Family Institute, along with other pro-child activists and legislators, who helped bring about the bill’s passage despite much opposition from transgender activists and their allies.

In Idaho, Governor Brad Little signed the Vulnerable Child Protection Act (House Bill 71) on April 4. Similarly, the bill protects children from these irreversible, life-damaging procedures.

Idaho Family Policy Center (IFPC) is a Focus on the Family allied organization which fights for life, families and religious freedom. In an email, IFPC President Blaine Conzatti detailed the legislative fight to pass the bill, saying:

The Vulnerable Child Protection Act was drafted four years ago by Idaho Family Policy Center, and this is our third legislative session that we’ve introduced and championed it.

This has been a long battle over the last few years, but looking back, we can now see God’s good providence through it all. In our first year, we never even received a committee vote. In our second year, we made it off the House floor with a veto-proof supermajority, but we never received a Senate committee hearing.

This year, IFPC launched a grassroots effort, with thousands of concerned citizens calling and sending emails. Conzatti said:

In the end, it was all worth it. The Vulnerable Child Protection Act goes into full force and effect on January 1, 2024, after which no gender dysphoric child in the State of Idaho will ever again be subjected to medically unnecessary interventions that result in irreparable infertility, chronic health problems, and mutilated reproductive organs.

In another victory earlier this month for IFPC, the state mandated that multiple-occupancy school restrooms, showers and changing facilities be designated male-only or female-only, based on biological sex. The same, common-sense restrictions apply to overnight school activities, requiring that “school personnel must provide separate sleeping quarters for members of each sex.”

Finally, the Kentucky General Assembly overturned a veto by Governor Andy Beshear of SB 150. According to the Kentucky Family Foundation (KFF):

SB 150 was amended with key protections for parental rights, student privacy in restrooms & locker rooms, and the Do No Harm Act to stop barbaric “gender transition” interventions on kids.

KFF Executive Director David Walls was thankful for the passage of the broad-ranging act:

Kentuckians overwhelmingly support SB 150’s commonsense student privacy protections in restrooms and locker rooms, along with the right of parents to have a say in their child’s education.

The off-label use of puberty blockers, along with cross-sex hormones and surgery, in experimental gender “transitions” has no place in children’s healthcare – the irreversible harms that de-transitioners have suffered testify to that.

As reported in the Daily Citizen, what little research there is supporting “transitioning” procedures is deeply flawed. The Institute for Research and Evaluation reviewed the available literature and reported:

Scientific evidence has not shown that cross-sex medical treatments are beneficial to children or adolescents. The research making these claims is not scientifically reliable. In fact, there is evidence of harmful impact. Consequently, a growing number of scientific agencies do not recommend such treatments. Instead, they recommend counseling and watchful waiting for gender-confused youth.

FPA reports on states that have passed or are considering similar legislation:

To date, 7 states have Help Not Harm laws (Arkansas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana), 2 states have modified versions of the law (Arizona, Utah), 1 state has a bill on the governor’s desk (Montana), and 7 states are currently considering legislation (Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, South Carolina).

We’re thankful that legislatures are moving to protect vulnerable minors from these destructive drugs, hormones and surgeries.

Related articles and resources:

Idaho Family Policy Center

Indiana Family Institute

Kentucky: The Family Foundation

Daily Citizen:

Focus on the Family

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