Florida Senate Passes Bill Banning Minors From Having ‘Gender Reassignment’ Surgery. DeSantis, Florida House Likely To Make It Law.

A new bill has been approved by the Florida State Senate that prohibits minors from having hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery. The legislation received 27 votes in favor and 12 against. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Clay Yarborough, claims that such a major decision cannot be made by a child going through mental distress; he stated that, “[t]his bill will allow children to be children.”

In order for the bill to become law, Florida House and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis need to approve it. A similar bill proposed by GOP State Representative Randy Fine is scheduled for a vote in the state House.

Yarborough added that the bill also includes amending Florida’s child custody laws in order to protect parents’ rights and to allow parents to apply to the court if they do not want their child to undertake sex reassignment prescriptions or procedures.

Addressing the possible consequences of gender-affirming treatments and surgeries on children, Yarborough stated, “This bill is even more important to the children that are led down the path and told that the only option for curing mental health issues is gender affirming treatments and surgeries, which causes permanent disfigurement, and may eliminate the ability to have children by subjecting their bodies to devastating long term damage.”

Furthermore, on Monday, the Florida Senate approved a bill banning abortions after six weeks. However, exceptions would be made if the mother’s life is under threat or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, but the mother would have to provide relevant documentation to support her claim.

It is widely expected that Governor DeSantis and the Florida House will approve the aforementioned bills, as Speaker Paul Renner noted last March, “We have a lot of the governor’s priorities in a really good spot. We’ll pass them … We’re moving quickly … Some of what the governor has proposed is monumental and good, and we support it 100%.” Meanwhile, DeSantis claimed that the Florida legislature is aware that passing bills ahead of time is better to avoid having to pass everything in the last few days of the session.

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