The South Dakota House Health and Human Services Committee has sent to the floor a bill banning gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender youth.
The party-line committee vote after 2 hours of debate saw all eight Republicans vote to send the bill to a floor vote with both Democrats opposed.
Sponsor Representative Bethany Soye, who says the bill has Gov Kristi Noem’s support, called the measure an issue of consent, comparing it not allowing a minor to buy cigarettes, drink alcohol, or join the military. Soye also said “the fact is the medical community can get things wrong.”
Testimony in support argued transgender surgeries were regrettable decisions made as teens or early adults, harmful medical experiments or unethical cures to gender dysphoria that should be left to “normal.”
Some spoke from personal experience as patients who regretted decisions to undergo surgery as young adults experiencing gender dysphoria, or as doctors who argued “normal” puberty was a “cure” for gender dysphoria.
Don Oliver, a retired pediatrician from Rapid City, said he disagreed with guidance from leading medical groups – such as the American Medical Association – that support gender-affirming care as medically necessary.
Oliver said “We as a profession have lost our way, lost our bearing, lost our anchor.
Opponents criticized the bill as overreach into healthcare concerns between patients and doctors, and for infringing on civil rights.
Daniel Heinemann, chief officer of Sanford Health and chair of South Dakota’s American Academy of Family Physicians, said “Gender-affirming care is part of comprehensive primary care.”
Heinemann said gender diversity is a normal part of the human existence and that family physicians are “deeply concerned by the growing trend of recent legislative efforts to criminalize care directed at specific patients.”