Washington, February 13 The governor of South Dakota (United States), Kristi Noemi, signed a law on Monday prohibiting minors from receiving hormones or gender-affirming treatments.
“With this settlement, we are protecting children from harmful and lifelong medical procedures,” the Republican governor said in a statement.
With the approval of the highest authority in the state, the initiative, promoted by conservative state politicians, comes into effect.
The law prohibits state health professionals from prescribing hormone treatments, drugs that arrest puberty, or performing surgeries that “validate” a minor’s sex if it does not conform to that assigned to them at birth, according to the legislative text.
The measure does, however, include exceptions for young people who are intersex, who have been diagnosed with a disorder of sex development or who need treatment for an infection or disease.
Physicians or health professionals who violate this new law may be penalized by the loss of their license to practice the profession.
South Dakota is the sixth state in the country to greenlight initiatives that criminalize the medical treatment of transgender youth.
In late January, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a similar law, while in Alabama and Arkansas, state justices imposed injunctions to prevent such bans from being imposed, while courts consider regulatory challenges. EFE
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