South Dakota House passes sex change limits

A bill that would protect minors from sex change surgeries is headed to the South Dakota Senate. The state’s House of Representatives passed the Vulnerable Child Protection Act by a vote of 46-23 on Wednesday. The bill protects children under age 16 from “being chemically castrated, sterilized, and surgically mutilated,” the act’s sponsor, Rep. Fred Deutsch, a Republican, said. It makes an exception for children diagnosed with medically verified genetic disorders of sexual development.

Will the bill become law? Republicans control the governor’s mansion, House, and Senate, where the bill has a good chance of passing. But Gov. Kristi Noem has not promised to sign it. “When you take public policy and try to fill parenting gaps with more government, you have to be very careful about the precedent you’re setting,” she said last week at a news conference. “That’s really the viewpoint I’m looking at it through.”

Dig deeper: Read Kiley Crossland’s report in Relations on why Deutsch thought the bill was necessary to protect children.