On Tuesday, the Florida State Senate approved a bill that, if also passed by the Florida House and signed by DeSantis, both of which are likely, would ban minors from having “gender reassignment” surgery, hormone therapy, or puberty blockers. The bill was passed by the Florida Senate passed in a 27-12 vote.
The summary of the bill, SB 245, provides, “Treatments for Sex Reassignment; Granting courts of this state temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in this state if the child has been subjected to or is threatened with being subjected to sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures; providing that, for purposes of warrants to take physical custody of a child in certain child custody enforcement proceedings, serious physical harm to the child includes, but is not limited to, being subjected to sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures; prohibiting certain public entities from expending state funds for the provision of sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures; requiring certain licensed facilities, by a specified date and as a condition of licensure thereafter, to provide a signed attestation of specified information to the Agency for Health Care Administration; prohibiting sex-reassignment prescriptions and procedures for patients younger than 18 years of age, etc.”
So, under the law, if passed, Florida would both ban gender reassignment surgeries and related prescriptions for minors and take physical custody of those children whose parents are subjecting them to or threatening them with the gender reassignment drugs or surgeries.
Describing the bill, state Sen. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville) the bill’s sponsor, told the Florida Senate, “We have a responsibility to all of the children of Florida not to allow this to happen in our state. A decision of this magnitude absolutely cannot be made by a child in mental distress. This bill will allow children to be children.”
Continuing, Yarborough then added, “This bill is even more important to the children that are led down the path and told that the only option for curing mental health issues is gender-affirming treatments and surgeries, which causes permanent disfigurement, and may eliminate the ability to have children by subjecting their bodies to devastating long term damage.”
But Yarborough wasn’t done there. He went on to note that the bill amends Florida’s child custody laws to both “protect the rights of parents” and also “ensure a pathway for a parent to petition the court if the other parent attempts to subject their child to a sex reassignment prescription or procedure.”
Democrat Sen. Lori Berman joined protesters in attacking the bill, saying that it was “banning healthcare” and adding that, “This state should not be stepping in to override parents decisions about healthcare for their children. This bill is wrong on the way it attacks transgender adults.”
The Florida Senate has been busy recently. In addition to this bill, it passed another on Monday that bans abortion after six weeks. The Daily Wire reports that “Exceptions would be made if the life of the mother is in danger or a pregnancy was caused by rape or incest until 15 weeks of pregnancy, although the woman would have to provide documentation detailing the situation, like a medical record, restraining order, or police report.“
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