PHOENIX (LifeSiteNews) – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed conservative bills on Tuesday banning “sex change” surgeries for minors, gender-confused males in women’s and girls’ sports, and nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. He also approved a law requiring proof of citizenship to vote in presidential elections.
Ducey’s action makes Arizona one of 14 states that have restricted girls’ sports to actual females in recent years and the third to enact legislation protecting minors from dangerous, experimental transgender procedures.
BREAKING: Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed bills banning biological men from playing girl's sports, make gender reassignment surgeries illegal for minors, and to ban abortion after 15 weeks.
Arizona is the 14th state to protect our daughters' sports.
— American Principles 🇺🇸 (@approject) March 30, 2022
“Today I signed S.B. 1138 and S.B. 1165, legislation to protect participation and fairness for female athletes, and to ensure that individuals undergoing irreversible gender reassignment surgery are of adult age,” Ducey said in a letter on Wednesday. He described the measures as “common sense.”
SB 1138 bans irreversible “sex change” procedures, including genital mutilation surgeries, hysterectomies, and mastectomies, for children under 18. It doesn’t apply in cases of a “medically verifiable disorder of sex development.” A previous version would have also restricted hormone drugs, but a lone Republican, state Sen. Tyler Pace, blocked it last month.
Transgender surgeries are conducted on underage children across the United States, though LGBT activists often claim otherwise. In a 2018 study in JAMA Pediatrics about mastectomies or “chest reconstruction” for young, gender-confused females, 33 of 68 girls who got the surgeries said they did so before turning 18. Two girls were just 13 when they had the surgeries.
Hysterectomies and genital surgical procedures are also performed on so-called “transgender” minors, according to a report compiled by Child & Parental Rights Campaign. The report identified multiple surgeons in North Carolina and California who openly provide such procedures to minors.
Gov. Ducey noted in his letter that “sex change” surgeries can “dramatically affect the rest of an individual’s life, including the ability of that individual to become a biological parent later in life.” “Throughout law, children are protected from making irreversible decision, including buying certain products or participating in activities that can have lifelong health implications,” he added.
The sports bill, SB 1165, requires public K-12 schools and colleges and private schools that compete against public schools to designate sports based on sex. Teams or sports designated for females “may not be open to students of the male sex,” the bill states.
Ducey’s approval of the two bills wasn’t widely expected. The two-term Arizona governor has previously supported homosexual adoption and recently vetoed legislation that would have outlawed sexualized, pro-LGBT material in public schools.
Governors in 12 other states have approved bills that ban males from female sports in the last two years.
Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed sports fairness legislation on Wednesday, calling it “just common sense.” “When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls,” he said. “Boys should compete against boys. And let’s be very clear: That’s all this bill says.”
Utah lawmakers on Friday overrode GOP Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of a similar bill.
Two states, Arkansas and Tennessee, enacted laws last year that restrict transgender procedures for minors. In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to consider transgender drugs and surgeries as illegal child abuse, but a state judge has temporarily blocked his order.
Arizona bans abortion, tightens elections
Ducey on Wednesday also signed a 15-week abortion ban, modeled after a similar Mississippi law before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The high court is expected to hand down a decision in the Dobbs case this summer and has signaled that it may strike down Roe v. Wade.
We thank Gov. @DougDucey for delivering a swift victory for women and children.
The 15-week abortion limit he signed today will save approximately 900 lives a year by stopping barbaric late abortions in Arizona.
Full statement: https://t.co/Q5NSoXXC0E pic.twitter.com/MJjlBdB6Sg
— Susan B. Anthony List #ModernizeOurLaw (@SBAList) March 30, 2022
The Arizona ban does not include exceptions for rape or incest, and doctors who violate it could face felony charges and risk losing their medical licenses.
Arizona enacted another sweeping pro-life law last year that prohibits eugenic abortions of babies with disabilities, including Down syndrome. A “trigger” law in the state would prohibit abortion entirely if the Supreme Court scraps Roe.
Another bill approved by Ducey requires voters to show proof of citizenship before voting in presidential elections, the Washington Examiner reported.
I Have Great News:
Republican Governor Ducey signed legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
“In Maricopa County alone, there are currently 13,042 active registered voters who have not provided evidence of citizenship…”
We need this law in all 50 states!
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 30, 2022
County recorders will have to reject voter registration applications without proof of citizenship under the bill, which left-wing “voting rights” advocates have pledged to challenge in court.