Today (Wed.), in an 8-5 vote, the House State Affairs Committee voted to advance House Bill 1057, legislation that would criminalize doctors for providing medically necessary care for transgender youth.
The ACLU of South Dakota opposes HB 1057, which would make it a felony for medical providers to treat youth consistent with evidence-based treatment protocols.
By blocking medical care supported by every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, the legislature is compromising the health of trans youth in dangerous and potentially life-threatening ways.
“If House Bill 1057 passes, the state will be interfering in the relationship between doctors and their patients, and forcing doctors to either face jail or face violating their Hippocratic oath,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. “Medical professionals, not politicians, should decide what medical care is in the best interest of a patient.”
HB 1057 continues the streak of bills that would codify discrimination against transgender youth that the South Dakota Legislature has attempted to pass over the last five years.
“For the past several years, South Dakota lawmakers have zeroed in on transgender youth and every year the transgender community is hurt while meaningful problems go unaddressed,” Skarin says. “It’s time we stop these attacks and focus on issues that really matter to the people of South Dakota. Discrimination against a marginalized group is a distraction from the state’s real needs and hurts us all.”
No other state has passed a law like HB 1057. It is unconstitutional to single out one group of people and categorically ban all care, no matter how medically necessary.
In addition to the ACLU of South Dakota, companies and organizations like the Sanford Health, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the South Dakota State Medical Association, the South Dakota Retailers Association, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, LEAD South Dakota and the Human Rights Campaign also oppose HB 1057. |
SD House Committee Advances Bill to Criminalize Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Youth
By Diane Deis
Jan 22, 2020 | 10:44 AM