Oklahoma Governor Signs Law Banning ‘Gender Affirmation’ Surgeries on Minors, Calls for Total Ban

Oct 7, 2022 | Political News

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) signed a bill on Tuesday that banned gender transition surgeries on minors at OU Children's Hospital. The bill requires the hospital to halt all procedures if they want to continue to receive millions of dollars in Covid-19 relief money.

“By signing this bill today we are taking the first step to protect children from permanent gender transition surgeries and therapies,” Governor Stitt said in a statement. “It is wildly inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used for condoning, promoting, or performing these types of controversial procedures on healthy children.”

The governor stated that the ban on gender transition surgeries for this single hospital is a step in the right direction. However, he urged lawmakers to ban the practice across the entire state in the upcoming legislative session, as reported by The Daily Wire.

“I am calling for the Legislature to ban all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors when they convene next session in February 2023,” Stitt said. “We cannot turn a blind eye to what’s happening all across our nation, and as governor, I will not allow life-altering transition surgeries on minor children in the state of Oklahoma.”

The law forbids any state funds to go to the implementation of gender transition surgeries, and it would have lost $39.4 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan

“The Legislature restricted the use of the funds from benefitting facilities performing certain gender medicine services. The new mental and behavioral health facility was never intended to provide such care,” OU Health said in a partial statement. “The OU Health Senior Leadership team is proactively planning the ceasing of certain gender medicine services across our facilities and that plan is already under development”

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Following the signing of the legislation, OU Health updated its website to make patients aware that they were halting the procedures: “In light of the legislation signed by Governor Stitt, we have ceased hormone-related prescription therapies and surgical procedures for gender-affirming services on patients under the age of 18. OU Health provides care in accordance with all state and federal laws and in compliance with regulatory governing bodies.”

Oklahoma Republicans are encouraged by the passing of this legislation with State Rep. Kevin West (R), stating, “I'm thankful for language in this bill that protects children from the practice of mutilation through gender reassignment medical treatment.”

“This unbelievably harmful practice cannot be reversed and has lasting physical and psychological consequences that can damage these children for the rest of their lives,” West stated. “Due to the call of the special session, this is as much as the Legislature can currently do to address this topic.”

“However, I know many legislators are ready to support legislation that will prohibit the practice statewide once we get back in regular session, myself being one of them,” the legislator explained. “Passing this legislation now will provide protections for children, and we can further expand those protections when we come back in the spring. The radical Left may be making a national push to try and allow the mutilation of our children to become mainstream, but here in Oklahoma we have to stand up for our kids and say enough is enough.”

Similar movements to halt “gender affirmation” surgeries on minors have taken root in other states. Last week, 62 state House members of the Tennessee legislature signed a letter calling for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to stop all surgical operations currently pending for transgender procedures following revelations of the center’s procedures.

With state lawmakers getting increasingly involved in halting these surgeries and taking legislative action to protect children, other Republican states should take note and take up legislation in their next sessions. If they fail to stop these dangerous surgeries, then voters should reconsider who represents them.

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