Montana has become the latest state to prohibit sex-change procedures for minors, as Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 99, the “Youth Health Protection Act,” into law on Friday.
This new legislation aims to protect children from potentially life-altering treatments.
The bill, which Governor Gianforte previously returned to the legislature for amendments, bans surgeries such as elective double mastectomies for girls identifying as boys and prohibits the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children.
Kaitlin Price, a spokeswoman for Gianforte, said in an email to The New York Times, “He [Gianforte] is committed to protecting Montana’s children from invasive medical treatments that can permanently alter their healthy, developing bodies.”
In a letter addressed to Montana Republican Senate and House leaders, Gianforte explained his support for the bill, stating that “gender-affirming care” for children is “Orwellian Newspeak” that disguises the true nature of permanent, invasive, and life-altering medical and surgical procedures performed on developing children.
During earlier debates on the bill, Sen. John Fuller, the bill’s sponsor, argued that “no serious state would promote the destruction of its own children. We must protect Montanans.”
While the bill received support from Republicans, Democrats widely opposed it. House Democrat leader Kim Abbott expressed her disappointment with the new law, stating, “It is very damaging policy. It impacts families and communities who are trying to obtain medically necessary care.”
Left-leaning groups like the ACLU of Montana are already vowing to take legal action against the bill.
This legislation follows the Montana House’s decision to censure a transgender-identifying lawmaker, State Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula), who accused colleagues supporting SB 99 of having “blood on your hands.”
Zephyr, a man identifying as a woman, has been prohibited from attending or speaking at floor sessions but will be permitted to vote remotely for the remainder of the session, which concludes next week.
After the censure vote, which fell along party lines, Zephyr criticized the “undemocratic decision” made by the Republican majority.
Montana now joins other Republican-led states such as Iowa, Tennessee, and Mississippi in banning transgender procedures for children.
