Iowa Bars Gender Reassignment For Minors

Facts

• On Wednesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two bills into law: one prohibiting doctors from aiding gender transitions for minors, and the other preventing transgender students from entering school bathrooms or changing rooms used by the opposite biological sex.¹
• The first bill prevents Iowa doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy treatments to children under 18 as well as prohibits any "gender transition procedures" that would "affirm the minor's perception of the minor's gender or sex."²
• The second bill requires students to get parental consent to request a special accommodation, such as using a faculty or single-occupancy restroom. The bill relies on citizen complaints to ensure schools' compliancy.³
• Authorities have three days to address a citizen's complaint. If the school in question doesn’t act, that citizen can then file a complaint with the attorney general, who would investigate and possibly pursue legal action.⁴
• Both laws are effective immediately, although healthcare providers who are already administering gender reassignment treatment to minors will have 180 days before they are required to end the treatment.⁵

Sources: ¹NBC, ²FOX News, ³The Des Moines Register, ⁴Associated Press, and ⁵The Hill.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Daily Wire. Republicans are taking the lead in protecting children, and Kim Reynolds is the latest GOP governor to sign concrete legislation to prevent child abuse disguised as "gender-affirming care." Children must be protected from the irreparable harm done to their bodies caused by this woke ideology, and the privacy and safety of all students using public facilities must be preserved. This is common sense governance.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Human Rights Campaign. Iowa joins other GOP-led states in their discrimination against transgender people, especially transgender youth. Iowa’s laws withhold necessary gender-affirming care that transgender children need. Trans youth must be protected and allowed the same right to pursue a life of happiness and dignity as anyone else.