Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law Tuesday a bill banning gender-transition procedures for those under the age of 18, drawing a line at the border to stop what he called “a dangerous movement spreading across America.”

The Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures Act “bans any person from knowingly providing gender transition procedures to a person under 18,” including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries. The measure takes effect immediately.

“There’s a dangerous movement spreading across America today,” Mr. Reeves said at a press conference prior to the bill signing. “It’s advancing under the guise of a false ideology and pseudo-science. It’s being pushed onto our children by radical activists, social media and online influencers, and it’s trying to convince our children that they are in the wrong body.” 

The law also prohibits government funds or tax deductions from being used for the procedures, bans Medicaid coverage for those under 18 undergoing such treatments, and adds enforcement procedures to the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.

Mississippi, much to the consternation of LGBTQ advocates, joins a half-dozen red states that have passed laws fighting the rapid expansion of youth gender clinics catering to children and teens who identify as the opposite sex.

“Gov. Reeves’ decision to sign this bill is an act of violence,” said Mickie Stratos, president of the Spectrum Center of Hattiesburg. “He and the lawmakers who pushed this bill in Mississippi are willfully ignoring the unique needs of transgender young people, interfering with their medical care and sending a stigmatizing, exclusionary message.” 

Rob Hill, state director of Human Rights Campaign Mississippi, called the bill “an outrageous attack on LGBTQ+ Mississippians and their families.”

“Like the politicians who wrote this bill, Gov. Reeves doesn’t have an ounce of medical training,” Mr. Hill said. “He is in no position to dictate the decisions that doctors and their patients make about health care.”

Cheering the bill’s passage was Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Sharp, who said “Mississippi is right to stop the injection of political agendas into the healthcare system.”

“Science and common sense tell us that children are not mature enough to properly evaluate the serious ramifications when making certain decisions—the decision to undergo dangerous and likely sterilizing gender transition procedures is no exception,” Mr. Sharp said.

The bill sailed through the Mississippi House on a 78-30 vote last month and then the Senate last week by 33-15.

Mississippi became the third state this year to place age limits on gender-transition procedures, following Utah and South Dakota. A Tennessee bill passed by the state legislature last week is expected to be signed by GOP Gov. Bill Lee. 

Laws passed in Alabama and Arkansas are now enjoined pending the outcome of court challenges.

An Arizona bill approved last year prohibits minors from undergoing irreversible gender-transition surgeries.

Mr. Reeves, who is up for reelection in November, said “there are two positions here.”

“One tells children that they’re beautiful the way they are. That they can find happiness in their own bodies. The other tells them that they should take drugs and cut themselves up with expensive surgeries in order to find freedom from depression,” he said. “I know which side I’m on. No child in Mississippi will have these drugs or surgeries pushed upon them.”

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.