Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Wednesday a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, joining a growing cadre of red states looking to restrict access to the treatments for trans youth in America.
SF 538 bans health care professionals from giving medical treatment “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 [at birth].” The legislation went to effect immediately after the governor’s signing.
Health professionals found to violate the law will be subject to discipline from the appropriate licensing board and can face lawsuits.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Steven Holt, said during floor debate earlier this month that the bill was intended to stop treatment that he considered too “experimental” to be allowed.
“I believe that the medical efficacy of these treatments is not proven,” Holt said.
Major medical associations agree that gender-affirming care is clinically appropriate for children and adults with gender dysphoria, a psychological distress that may result when a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth do not align, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
Though the care is highly individualized, some children may decide to use reversible puberty suppression therapy. This part of the process may also include hormone therapy that can lead to gender-affirming physical change. Surgical interventions, however, are not typically done on children and many health care providers do not offer them to minors.
Democrats in Iowa’s state House accused supporters of the ban of hypocrisy for not giving parents a choice of whether to allow gender-affirming care for their own children.
“I was under the…
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