The Louisiana Senate on Monday voted in favor of prohibiting gender-transition healthcare for minors, according to The Hill.
House Bill 648 aims to prevent healthcare providers from administering gender-transition medical treatments to patients under the age of 18. The bill includes the threat of revoking professional licenses as a deterrent.
On Friday, House Bill 648 passed through the state Senate Judiciary "A" Committee, which is predominantly composed of Republicans and generally focuses on criminal justice matters. Notably, none of the three Democrats on the committee were present during the vote. State Sen. Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge justified his absence by stating that the bill was not relevant to the committee's subject matter.
The bill passed the full Senate on Monday in a 29 to 10 vote, mostly along party lines.
Republicans argued that the bill was necessary to protect children from making medical decisions they may come to regret later in life.
"This isn't complicated," Republican state Sen. Jeremy Stine said Monday. "Kids should not have access to permanent medical procedures in order to affirm an identity they might outgrow."
The bill is now expected to pass upon its return to the GOP-controlled House. After which, it will head to Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards' desk, who in the past has voiced opposition to laws deemed discriminatory to the LGBTQ community.
"Members of this community," Edwards said last month, "believe they're being attacked for who they are. Members of the trans community are much more likely than other young people to have suicidal ideation or attempts or to actually be successful."
"These kinds of bills do not tend to help with that, and in fact, they aggravate that situation and then cause it to be worse."
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