Katie Kerekes, FISM News
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Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday preventing the prescription of gender-reassignment drugs to minors at the state’s university children’s hospital.
State Bill 3xx addresses the Roy G. Biv program, which provides gender-related treatment to underage children with parental consent. The bill “blocks funding to prevent gender transition services for minors at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health.”
“By signing this bill today, we are taking the first step to protect children from permanent gender transition surgeries and therapies,” Governor Stitt said in a statement. “It is wildly inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used for condoning, promoting, or performing these types of controversial procedures on healthy children.”
The bill, garnering support from Senate Speaker Pro Tem Greg Treat, has gone into effect immediately. In a September special legislative session, Treat expressed his belief that the bill reflects the majority wishes of Oklahoma taxpayers, stating that children should not be permitted to make “reprehensible” life-altering decisions.
In a tweet shared by the governor, he referred to the bill as “just the first step,” adding that he is calling on a legislative ban on all “irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies statewide.”
I just signed SB3 to prevent gender transition services for minors at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health.
This is just the first step.
I am calling on the Legislature to ban all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors statewide.
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) October 4, 2022
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital previously offered gender-reassignment methods such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and assistance in connecting those with gender dysphoria to surgeons who perform genital mutilation under the guise of “gender-affirming care.”
In the past five years, some children have even undergone breast reduction surgeries through the hospital’s program.
OU Health is set to receive $108 million in federal stimulus funds contingent upon the cessation of gender-related medical interventions.
A statement on the hospital’s website reads, “In light of the legislation signed by Governor Stitt, we have ceased hormone-related prescription therapies and surgical procedures for gender-affirming services on patients under the age of 18.”
The governor made headlines earlier this year for his strong stance against transgender ideology. He signed Senate Bill 615, requiring students to use the restrooms and locker room associated with their biological sex, and the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” both of which went into effect last spring. The latter prohibits males from competing in female athletics, and vice versa, in both K-12 and collegiate competitions.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to what’s happening all across our nation, and as governor, I will not allow life-altering transition surgeries on minor children in the state of Oklahoma,” he concluded.
According to the Daily Mail, 15 states have a total of 25 pieces of legislation on the books related to transgender medical interventions since the start of this year.