(PresidentialHill.com)- Republican state senators in Idaho have killed a bill that would’ve made it a crime for parents to allow their children to receive medical treatments that are gender-affirming.
Last week, the Idaho state House of Representatives passed H.B. 675 in a near party-line vote. But, that bill died in the state Senate Tuesday, after the GOP there responded to national outcry against the bill.
The bill would have barred any person from providing to a transgender youth any medication that’s meant to delay or block puberty from starting, or from performing any surgery meant to affirm gender. That language would have been added to a bill that already exists that bans the genital mutilation of females.
In a statement, the state’s Republican senators said they were opposed to surgery for gender reassignment being allowed for minors. However, they added that H.B. 675 interfered with the rights parents should have to make medical decisions on behalf of their children.
They said in the statement:
“We believe in parents’ rights and that the best decisions regarding medical treatment options for children are made by parents, with the benefit of their physician’s advice and expertise.”
If the bill would have passed, it would have outlawed either treating a child who is transgender or helping that child leave Idaho to get treatment in other states. It was very extreme, too, as it would have been a felony charge that carried a sentence of as much as life behind bars.
There was only one Republican in Idaho’s House of Representatives that opposed the bill — Fred Wood, who is the only physician who serves in the chamber.
Many medical groups have opposed any measure that targets medical treatment that a transgender youth would get. That includes the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association.
In justifying shooting down the bill, Idaho’s Republican state senators said in a statement that the Idaho Medical Association said that gender-affirming surgeries don’t even take place in the state for youth.
The senators were also worried that, as the bill were originally written, it could have extended to apply to children who needed other types of medical care. In their statement, they wrote:
“The bill’s language in its current form could be interpreted to extend into the realm of medically necessary care for kids that is in no way related to transgender therapy, but serves children with highly specialized medical needs.”
Idaho isn’t the only state that has tried to, or successfully, pass legislation that targets transgender youth. Much of that has been done in states that are led by Republican legislatures.
Many of the bills deal with medical care transgender youth can get. Currently, multiple bills related to this are being considered in New Hampshire, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Tennessee.
There is ongoing litigation in some of the states where bills have been passed into law. The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, is trying to overturn an order issued by Texas Governor Greg Abbott as well as a bill in place in Arkansas.
