Iowa Gov. Reynolds bans transgender surgeries for minors, restricts bathroom use

"We need to just pause; we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids," she said.

By Ben Whedon

Published: March 23, 2023 5:30pm

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds this week signed two laws that prevent minors from receiving various gender-related treatments and require transgender students to use school bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex.

The first of the two measures that Reynolds signed on Wednesday bars doctors from giving minors sex changes or hormone treatments. Reynolds previously indicated support for the bill, saying that state ought to slow down the use of experimental therapies until the lasting effects of those treatments are fully understood.

"We need to just pause; we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids," she said, according to The Hill. "My heart goes out to them. I’m a parent, I’m a grandmother, I know how difficult this is. This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. I don’t like it. But I have to do what I believe right now is in the best interest of the kids."

The second measure, which restricting school restroom use, also secured Reynolds' signature on Wednesday. That move follows a similar measure in Arkansas enacted this week which Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed. The Arkansas bill imposes a minimum $1,000 fine on superintendents, principals, and teachers should they violate it.

In the state of Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a similar ban on minors receiving myriad gender-related surgeries on Thursday.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.