JACKSON (LifeSiteNews) – Mississippi will soon become the latest state to prohibit life-altering surgical and chemical procedures intended to alter a minor’s gender, with Republican Gov. Tate Reeves confirming he will sign HB 1125.
The legislation, which cleared its last hurdles in the state legislature this week, prohibits “knowingly provid[ing] gender transition procedures to any person under eighteen (18) years of age” and the use of public funding and/or resources for the same, punishable by loss of one’s medical license in the Magnolia State.
HB 1125 passed the state Senate 33-15 and the state House 78-30, the Associated Press reports.
Reeves affirmed Tuesday that he “look[s] forward to getting the bill” to sign, declaring that “[s]terilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong.”
Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong. That plain truth is somehow controversial in today’s world.
I called for us to stop these sick experimental treatments, and I look forward to getting the bill. pic.twitter.com/zwACERpXSY
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 21, 2023
READ: Gov. Kristi Noem signs ban on transgender drugs and surgeries for minors
Studies find that more than 80% of children experiencing gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence, and that even full “reassignment” surgery often fails to resolve gender-confused individuals’ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide — and may even exacerbate it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.
On top of those issues, experts outside the medical establishment further warn that surgically or chemically reinforcing gender confusion imposes irreversible harm on children such as infertility, impairment of adult sexual function, and reduced life expectancy, as well as the psychological toll of being “locked into” physical alterations regardless of whether they change their minds when they mature, as attested to by many individuals who “detransitioned” back to their true sex.
The issue is grimly illustrated in the story of Yaeli Martinez, a 19-year-old to whom “gender transitioning” was touted as a possible cure for her depression in high school, supported by a high school counselor who withheld what she was going through from her mother. The troubled girl killed herself after trying to live as a man for three years.
Mississippi has implemented a number of conservative reforms over the past year, including a ban on most abortions and prohibition of vaccine passports. On the other hand, Republican leaders in the state recently killed a bill that would require religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates.
READ: Utah bans mutilating gender surgeries for minors, restricts puberty blockers