The Republican-led Louisiana House and Senate voted Tuesday to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ (D) veto of a bill prohibiting minors with gender dysphoria from obtaining life-altering transgender hormone drugs and surgeries.
The “historic” vote is only the third time a veto session ended in a single day with Republican lawmakers striking down Edwards’ veto on just one bill, Nola reported.
“Today, I was overridden for the second time, on my veto of a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their health care professionals,” Edwards said in a statement. “I expect the courts to throw out this unconstitutional bill, as well.”
The state House voted 76-23 to override Edwards’ veto of HB648, while the Senate overturned the veto by a vote of 28-11.
Edwards claimed the measure, which seeks to protect children and teens from life-altering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, is unnecessary because “there was never any evidence or testimony” that gender transition surgeries on minors have occurred in Louisiana.
In a six-page letter to Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R-Ascension) that explained his veto, Edwards called the legislation “punitive,“ “discriminatory,” “part of a targeted assault on children,” and one that “denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children.”
“It is unfathomable to think that in my last few months serving as governor of this state that I would sign into law a bill that categorically denies healthcare for children and families based on propaganda and misinformation generated by national interest groups,” wrote the Democrat governor who touted his expansion of Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
A report cited by Edwards to justify his veto claimed few youths who begin medical “transition” to a gender that is incompatible with biological sex express a desire to de-transition.
“Regret or retransition in youth is rare (1% or less) in large cohorts with formal diagnostic procedures after diagnosis of GD [gender dysphoria] and start of treatment,” the report stated, adding, “Not all youth expressing gender diverse thoughts or who self-identify as transgender or nonbinary go on to receive formal diagnosis or start medical treatments.”
Regarding a minor’s ability to give informed consent, the state report notes that, in Louisiana, “a minor can consent to medical care in general without the consent of a parent or guardian.”
“Under the mature minor doctrine, a minor’s age, maturity, and cognitive abilities are weighed when making a judicial determination of whether a minor who is otherwise legally incompetent is sufficiently mature to consent to their own medical care,” the report notes, justifying the “doctrine” by citing establishment pro-transgender medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics which “encourages the involvement of children beginning at age 7, with increasing involvement determined by age, including for those in the transgender population.”
Author and journalist Chris Rufo recently presented a video titled The Transgender Empire, which exposes the evolution of the transgender movement and its political mission to alter American culture.
In his veto letter, Edwards also cited the New York Times which, he wrote, “recently reported these children experience attempts of suicide at a rate of seven times higher than other children.”
However, the transgender movement’s fear narrative of the high rates of suicide among gender dysphoric children has been debunked in a study at the Heritage Foundation.
A recent study by Do No Harm, a group of healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers who seek to protect Americans from radical and discriminatory ideology in healthcare, found that the prevalence of radical gender ideology in the United States has driven the nation to provide children greater access to transgender medical interventions than is now available in Europe.
Must read— devastating critique of the Dutch Studies that form the foundation of hormonal and surgical interventions for gender dysphoric youth. https://t.co/pYeLCDbwaO
— Will Malone MD (@will_malone) January 12, 2023
As a result of its analysis of the laws and policies of European countries, Do No Harm said, “the United States is the most permissive country when it comes to the legal and medical gender transition of children.”
“Only France comes close,” the report explained, “yet unlike the U.S., France’s medical authorities have recognized the uncertainties involved in transgender medical care for children and have urged ‘great caution’ in its use.”
– – –
Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “John Bel Edwards” by John Bel Edwards.
