South Dakota passes first law that will force trans children to detransition

South Dakota is now the first state to pass legislation that would effectively force trans children out. The legislation that marks the second federal state this year to attack trans health care, bans all gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 18.

On Monday, notorious Pro-NRA and Anti-Trans Rights Gov. Kristi Noem (r) signed bill, after to Vice. Although All bans on transgender health care have been irreparably harmfulSouth Dakota’s law is explicitly violent and the first of its kind: Healthcare professionals have until the end of the year to stop treating patients who are currently receiving gender-affirming treatment, from hormone therapies and surgery to puberty blockers. Physicians who do not comply risk losing their medical license or being sued.

“The children of South Dakota are our future. With this legislation, we protect children from harmful, permanent medical interventions,” Noem called in an opinion. The majority Republican state Senate had previously passed the law House bill 1080with 30:4 votes.

The only concession the legislation makes is that if a health care professional determines that “the immediate cessation of the minor’s use of the drug or hormone would cause harm to the minor,” the health care professional discontinues treatment of the patient via a specific Period can “reduce systematically” depending on the language in the invoice. The irony, of course, is that cutting off a minor’s gender-affirming care in any way would do so harm the minor– from increased risk of suicide to increased gender dysphoria and depression. Undoing any progress in the middle of a transition is not only brutal, but also barbaric and inhumane.

But none of that matters to Noem, who is seeking a VP role in the next Republican presidential administration, and her radical stance of denying the lived experience and rights of trans children appears to be helping her in this political crusade. Noem was always one of the the most vocal anti-trans governors in the country, and last February South Dakota was similarly the first state to pass legislation banning transgender women and girls from competing on athletic teams that match their gender, after to CNN.

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South Dakota’s new law marks another part of the multi-year spate of Republican anti-LGBTQ legislation, the vast majority of which attack the ability of trans people to exist freely in their state. Vice reports that lawmakers in at least 18 states are also considering gender-affirming grooming bans. Mississippi, for example, is considering legislation that would mirror South Dakota by forcing juveniles to detransition, and a potential law in Florida would ban most gender-affirming underage care without forcing detransition for those already in care. Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia all enacted measures that would prohibit gender-affirming nursing for some adults.