Bill Text: IA SF538 | 2023-2024 | 90th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to prohibited activities regarding gender transition procedures relative to minors, and including effective date and applicability provisions. (Formerly SSB 1197.) Effective date: 03/22/2023. Contingent applicability date.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2023-03-22 - Signed by Governor. S.J. 700. [SF538 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2023-SF538-Introduced.html

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Senate File 538 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 538
BY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 1197)
A BILL FOR
An Act relating to prohibited activities regarding gender
transition procedures relative to minors, and including
effective date and applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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Section 1. NEW SECTION . 147.164 Gender transition
procedure-related activities —— minors —— prohibitions.
1. As used in this section:
a. “Gender” means the psychological, behavioral, social, and
cultural aspects of being male or female.
b. “Health care professional” means a person who is
licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by
the law of this state to administer health care in the ordinary
course of business or in the practice of a profession.
c. “Minor” means an unemancipated person under eighteen
years of age.
d. “Sex” means the biological indication of male and
female, including sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex
hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external
genitalia present at birth without regard to an individual’s
psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.
2. a. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph “c” , a
health care professional shall not knowingly engage in or cause
any of the following practices to be performed on a minor if
the practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to
alter the appearance of, or affirm the minor’s perception of,
the minor’s gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is
inconsistent with the minor’s sex.
(1) Prescribing or administering gonadotropin-releasing
hormone analogues or other synthetic drugs used to stop
luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone secretion,
synthetic antiandrogen drugs used to block the androgen
receptor, or any drug to suppress or delay normal puberty.
(2) Prescribing or administering testosterone, estrogen,
or progesterone to a minor in an amount greater than would
normally be produced endogenously in a healthy individual of
that individual’s age and sex.
(3) Performing surgeries that sterilize, including
castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy,
and penectomy.
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S.F. 538
(4) Performing surgeries that artificially construct
tissue with the appearance of genitalia that differs from the
individual’s sex, including metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, and
vaginoplasty.
(5) Removing any healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.
b. A health care professional shall not knowingly engage in
conduct that aids or abets the practices described in paragraph
“a” . This paragraph shall not be construed to impose liability
on any speech protected by federal or state law.
c. Paragraphs “a” and “b” do not apply to any of the
following:
(1) Services provided to a minor born with a medically
verifiable disorder of sex development, including a minor
with external biological sex characteristics that are
irresolvably ambiguous, such as a minor born with forty-six
XX chromosomes with virilization, forty-six XY chromosomes
with undervirilization, or having both ovarian and testicular
tissue.
(2) Services provided to a minor who has otherwise
been diagnosed with a disorder of sexual development by a
physician, when the physician has determined through genetic
or biochemical testing that the minor does not have a normal
sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or
sex steroid hormone action for a biological male or biological
female.
(3) The treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or
disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by the performance
of gender transition procedures, whether or not the procedures
were performed in accordance with state and federal law.
(4) Any procedure undertaken because a minor suffers from a
physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that
is certified by a physician and that would place the minor
in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily
function unless surgery is performed.
d. A violation of the prohibitions under paragraph “a” or
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S.F. 538
“b” by a health care professional is considered unprofessional
conduct and subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate
licensing board or entity.
3. a. A person may assert an actual or threatened violation
of this section as a claim or defense in a judicial or
administrative proceeding and may obtain compensatory damages,
injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other appropriate
relief.
b. An action brought for a violation of this section shall
be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues.
However, a minor may bring an action during the minor’s
minority through a parent or legal guardian, and may bring an
action in the minor’s own name upon reaching majority and for
twenty years after reaching majority.
c. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, an
action under this section may be commenced, and relief may be
granted, in a judicial proceeding without regard to whether the
person commencing the action has sought or exhausted available
administrative remedies. In an action or proceeding to
enforce this section, a prevailing party may recover reasonable
attorney fees.
d. The attorney general may bring an action to enforce this
section.
e. Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny,
impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority of the
attorney general, the state, or any agency, officer, or
employee of the state to institute or intervene in any
proceeding.
f. Compliance with, or enforcement or implementation of,
this section shall not constitute a violation of any provision
of chapter 216.
Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of immediate
importance, takes effect upon enactment.
Sec. 3. APPLICABILITY. The following applies one hundred
eighty days after the effective date of this Act:
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The provisions of the section of this Act enacting section
147.164, subsection 2, that prohibit a health care professional
from knowingly engaging in or causing certain practices to
be performed on a minor if the practice is performed for the
purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm
the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or sex, if that
appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
This bill relates to prohibitions regarding gender
transition procedure-related activities relating to minors.
The bill provides definitions used in the bill including
“gender”, “health care professional”, “minor”, and “sex”.
The bill prohibits, with some exceptions, a health care
professional from knowingly engaging in or causing specified
practices to be performed on a minor if the practice is
performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance
of, or affirm the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or
sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the
minor’s sex. These prohibited practices include prescribing
or administering gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues or
other synthetic drugs used to stop luteinizing hormone and
follicle-stimulating hormone secretion, synthetic antiandrogen
drugs used to block the androgen receptor, or any drug to
suppress or delay normal puberty; prescribing or administering
testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone to a minor in an amount
greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a
healthy individual of that individual’s age and sex; performing
surgeries that sterilize, including castration, vasectomy,
hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and penectomy;
performing surgeries that artificially construct tissue with
the appearance of genitalia that differs from the individual’s
sex, including metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty;
and removing any healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.
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The bill also prohibits a health care professional from
knowingly engaging in conduct that aids or abets the specified
prohibited practices. However, this prohibition is not to
be construed to impose liability on any speech protected by
federal or state law.
The bill specifies services to which the prohibitions
of the bill do not apply including: services provided to
a minor born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex
development, including a minor with external biological sex
characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, such as a
minor born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization, 46 XY
chromosomes with undervirilization, or having both ovarian
and testicular tissue; services provided to a minor who has
otherwise been diagnosed with a disorder of sexual development
by a physician, when the physician has determined through
genetic or biochemical testing that the minor does not have
a normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone
production, or sex steroid hormone action for a biological male
or biological female; the treatment of any infection, injury,
disease, or disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by
the performance of gender transition procedures, whether or
not the procedures were performed in accordance with state and
federal law; any procedure undertaken because a minor suffers
from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness
that is certified by a physician and that would place the minor
in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily
function unless surgery is performed.
A violation of the prohibitions under the bill by a health
care professional is considered unprofessional conduct and
subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate licensing
board or entity.
The bill provides that a person may assert an actual
or threatened violation of the bill as a claim or defense
in a judicial or administrative proceeding and may obtain
compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or
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S.F. 538
any other appropriate relief. An action for a violation of the
bill must be brought within two years after the cause of action
accrues. However, a minor may bring an action during the
minor’s minority through a parent or legal guardian, and may
bring an action in the minor’s own name upon reaching majority
and for 20 years after reaching majority.
An action may be commenced, and relief may be granted, in
a judicial proceeding without regard to whether the person
has sought or exhausted available administrative remedies. A
prevailing party may recover reasonable attorney fees in an
action brought under the bill.
The attorney general may bring an action to enforce the bill.
The bill is not to be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise
affect any right or authority of the attorney general, the
state, or any agency, officer, or employee of the state to
institute or intervene in any proceeding.
Compliance with, or enforcement or implementation of, the
bill shall not constitute a violation of Code chapter 216
(civil rights commission).
The bill takes effect upon enactment.
The provisions of the bill prohibiting certain practices
by a health care professional performed on a minor if the
practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter
the appearance of, or affirm the minor’s perception of, the
minor’s gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is
inconsistent with the minor’s sex, are applicable 180 days
after the effective date of the bill.
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