Georgia and Iowa Become Latest States to Ban Child Sex Changes

Georgia and Iowa have become the latest states to ban child sex changes as Republicans across the country move to stop the surge in demand for what they argue is a form of child mutilation.

Georgia Senate Bill 140, which was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on Thursday, will “prohibit certain surgical procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors from being performed in hospitals and other licensed healthcare facilities… so as to prohibit certain surgical procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.”

The move was celebrated by conservative activists, including the group Moms for America, whose founder and president Kimberly Fletcher said in a press release:

“We’re glad that policymakers across America are taking a careful look at what these harmful procedures can do to children. This new measure will give Georgia children the legal protections they desperately need.

While the Georgia bill and others like it mark a turning point in the debate over child protection, there is still much work to be done. Too many states continue to defend sexual mutilation of children by refusing to implement laws that would properly protect them. This must change.

Earlier this week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds also signed off on bill SF538 ruling that medical professionals “shall not knowingly engage in or cause any [treatments] for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

As well as the child sex change legislation, Reynolds also signed SF482, a law preventing transgender-identifying students from using the opposite sex’s public school bathrooms.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp also released a statement celebrating the passage of the Iowa law:

Denying the truth that we are either male or female hurts real people, especially vulnerable children. By enacting this legislation, Iowa has taken critical steps to protect children from radical activists that peddle gender ideology and pressure children into life-altering, experimental procedures and drugs.

Young people deserve to live in a society that doesn’t subject them to risky experiments to which they cannot effectively consent. That’s why other countries—like Sweden, England, and Finland—are adopting policies that better protect children from the bad science that has already devastated countless lives. We commend Gov. Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature for standing for truth by enacting these vital protections for our children.

The move to outlaw child sex changes comes after a surge in demand that conservatives say is a result of both parental and societal pressure and influence. In an analysis published late last year, Reuters found that in 2021, around 42,000 minors across the U.S. received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017.

Critics of the child sex laws claim that it involves denying “gender-affirming care” to those who need it, although polling data indicates that public opinion is strongly on the side of those seeking to ban it.

Georgia and Iowa now become the ninth and tenth states to pass such legislation, following in the footsteps of Mississippi, Florida, Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, and Tennessee. State legislatures in Missouri and Kentucky’s legislatures have also passed similar bills that are awaiting signoff from the governor’s mansion.

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