Mississippi enacts law to protect children from transgender, life-altering procedures

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday signed into law a statewide measure to protect underaged minors from dangerous, life-altering medical procedures such as transgender surgeries.

The Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act serves to bar the provision of gender transition procedures to those under the age of 18.

"A person shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to any person under eighteen (18) years of age," the bill reads. "A person shall not knowingly engage in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of gender transition procedures to any person under eighteen (18) years of age."

The measure further bars the use of public funds or tax deductions for gender transition procedures on minors.

Advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom celebrated the law's passage, with Senior Counsel Matt Sharp saying "Mississippi is right to stop the injection of political agendas into the health care system by ensuring that children are protected from life-altering, experimental procedures and drugs."

"Science and common sense tell us that children are not mature enough to properly evaluate the serious ramifications when making certain decisions—the decision to undergo dangerous and likely sterilizing gender transition procedures is no exception," he continued. "We are grateful to Gov. Reeves, Speaker Gunn, Rep. Newman, and the Mississippi Legislature for taking this strong stand for truth and the protection of Mississippi's children."

"Denying the truth that we are either male or female hurts real people, especially vulnerable children," Sharp concluded.

The move comes as other Republican states move to restrict various forms of "gender-affirming" care for minors amid concerns about both the procedure's lifelong aftereffects and the ability of children to grasp the consequences of such operations.

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