Georgia on Track To Be Ninth State To Outlaw Transgender Procedures for Children

The Georgia Senate sent a bill to the governor's desk Tuesday that prohibits children from getting sex-change procedures, following the example of eight other states.

The Republican-sponsored Senate Bill 140, which passed 31-21 along party lines, would outlaw hormone therapy and sex-change surgeries "for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors."

Republican lawmakers in the Peach State join their counterparts in 30 other states in raising concern about the permanent damages these treatments can cause for children. Eight of those states—Mississippi, Florida, Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, and Tennessee—have signed these protections for children into law. Missouri and Kentucky's bills are also awaiting signatures from the governor.

Under the Georgia bill, unlike other states, doctors can still prescribe puberty blockers. The bill only blocks "irreversible procedures or therapies."

"I think we have struck a good balance here," Republican state senator Ben Watson, a Savannah physician who helped draft the measure, said. "What we’re doing is preventing minors, who are under 18 years old, from having irreversible changes in their lives."

A spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp (R.) declined to say whether the governor will sign the legislation, the Associated Press reported.

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