MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WRN) — Republicans in the State Assembly passed a bill on Thursday prohibiting doctors from offering or performing gender-affirming surgeries to minors.
Speaker Robin Vos says doctors are being reckless with the health of their patients.
“If you go back in history, the way to treat mental illness 50 to 100 years ago was a lobotomy,” said Vos. “At the time that was settled science, that’s just how it was supposed to be.”
Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, calls the legislation The Help Not Harm Act.
“What this bill does is it grants minors the time for their minds to develop in order to make the right choice for them at the appropriate developmental age,” Allen said. “I want to make clear that this bill does not prohibit social transitioning and it does not affect adults. It allows minors to hit the pause button before making a significant choice.”
Democratic Governor Tony Evers is expected to veto the bill, and the Wisconsin Medical Society opposes the measure.
The governor is also expected to veto bills that would keep transgender students from playing in boy’s or girl’s high school sports.
Doctors and pediatricians around the country have called for these types of surgeries to banned for anyone under the age of 18 saying, “The massive push we are seeing for children to become the targets of experimental, life-altering drugs and surgeries is ideological in nature, directly opposed to biological reality, antithetical to good medical practice, and deeply disturbing to doctors who have devoted their lives to ethical, compassionate care for their most vulnerable patients — children,” ACPeds President Dr. Michael Artigues said.
This bill follows a court decision that ruled against a Wisconsin school district policy that allowed teachers and officials to address students by new names and pronouns without parental consent.
