States Continue To Enact ‘Help, Not Harm’ Laws
Written by on August 2, 2023
The movement to protect vulnerable minors from “transgender” hormones and procedures is continuing to spread throughout the country. States across the nation are passing “help not harm” bills to prevent adults from providing dangerous and misleading “gender-affirming care” to kids with gender dysphoria.
On July 18, 2023, the state of Louisiana enacted a ban on so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors when the Louisiana State Legislature overrode Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’s veto of the Stop Harming Our Kids Act. The law received bipartisan support in both houses. According to The Washington Stand, the Stop Harming Our Kids Act bans the use of puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones, and/or genital surgeries on minors. The law “makes an exception for children who enter puberty too early, for those born intersex, or who require such actions to treat a separate physical injury.” The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2024.[1]
Family Research Council was involved in the lobbying effort to pass the Stop Harming Our Kids Act. FRC President Tony Perkins commented, “‘Praise God. ‘Gender-affirming care’ is not scientifically supported and is in direct opposition to good mental health practice. The majority of kids who are gender confused outgrow discomfort with their developing bodies.’”
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms’ ally at Family Policy Alliance, a leading voice on this issue, has provided a resource page regarding this issue here.
[1] While The Washington Stand asserts that 20 states have now passed “help not harm” laws, U.S. News and World Report lists 21 states that have passed such bills. Some states’ “help not harm” laws have been blocked by courts.
