The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that would protect minors from accessing sex-mutilating transgender surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers.
The state Senate approved Assembly Bill 465 in a 22-10 vote, with Republicans unanimously voting to protect children. If passed the legislation would bar health care providers from “engaging in, or making referrals for, certain medical intervention practices upon an individual under 18 years of age if done for the purpose of changing the minor’s body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the minor’s biological sex,” the bill’s text states.
Identical treatments and procedures would remain legal for minors “born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development,” or to treat “any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused by or exacerbated by the performance of a gender transition medical procedure.”
The same applies to “any procedure undertaken because the minor suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the minor in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily function unless surgery is performed,” the text states.
Under the bill, the Board of Nursing, the Medical Examining Board, and the Physician Assistant Affiliated Credentialing Board would be required to investigate any health care worker accused of violating the law. The boards would have the power to revoke that person’s license, should they be found guilty of performing transgender procedures or prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to minors.
FILE – In this Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, file photo, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during a news conference in Kenosha, Wis., as Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes stands at rear. The fight over control of Wisconsin’s share of the $1.9 trillion federal coronavirus stimulus package ramps up Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in the state Legislature, with Republicans voting on a bill to take away Evers’ ability to decide how to spend the estimated $5.7 billion coming for state and local governments. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
Wisconsin Democrat Gov. Tony Evers has promised to veto the bill protecting minors from sexual mutilation at the hands of doctors, along with two other bills that would protect women and girls’ sports teams.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — not one of these bills will become law in Wisconsin as long as I am governor. Period,” Evers wrote posted on X last week, calling the bills “scary” and “downright dangerous.”
Even though Republicans control the Wisconsin House and Senate, they do not have enough of a majority to override the Democrat governor’s vetoes.