The new law states that a health care professional “shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to a person under eighteen years of age” and prohibits “public school staff and officials from withholding knowledge of a minor's perception of their gender from the minor’s parents.” According to the bill’s text, health care professionals who violate the law are “guilty of inflicting great bodily injury upon a child” and risk losing their medical licenses. The law requires minors who have already begun using puberty blockers or hormones before August 1, 2024, to have their regimen “systematically reduced” so they are be weaned off the drugs no later than January 31, 2025. The law also prohibits state taxpayer dollars from “directly or indirectly” paying for these procedures.
Traditionally, hormone blockers are used to treat prostate cancer in adult men, that is until doctors in the Netherlands began using them to attempt “gender transitions” in the 1990s. Attempting “gender transition” in part with puberty blockers then became known as the “Dutch Protocol,” yet these drugs have never received full approval from any government. While the Dutch government is now investigating puberty blockers, a large body of evidence reveals that puberty blockers and hormones cause irreversible harm to children and adults alike, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infertility. In fact, the warning labels on two commonly used puberty blockers, such as Lupron and Supprelin, warn about adverse emotional effects, including mood alterations, crying, aggression, convulsions, and increased fluid pressure around the brain. Further research shows that these drugs as well as mutilating surgeries do not relieve gender confusion nor improve suicide rates.
