Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, joining 23 other states in the country that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment.
Lawmakers in both state chambers endorsed the legislation, Senate File 99, earlier this month. Gov. Mark Gordon signed the bill Friday.
The legislation would penalize pharmacists, doctors and other healthcare professionals for providing gender-affirming care to minors by revoking their licenses or outright banning them from practicing in the state.
Gordon said he supports the bill’s protections for minors, but added the new legislation means the government encroaching on the private matters of families.
“I signed SF99 because I support the protections this bill includes for children, however it is my belief that the government is straying into the personal affairs of families” Gordon said in a Friday statement. “Our legislature needs to sort out its intentions with regard to parental rights. While it inserts governmental prerogative in some places, it affirms parental rights in others.”
State Senator Anthony Bouchard sponsored the bill, and argued it would ban the use of pharmaceuticals in altering “normal adolescent development.’’ The legislation will take effect in July.
Despite signing off on the bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, Gordon vetoed another bill Friday that would have restricted abortions in the state, called House Bill 148.
Since 2021, GOP-led states have attempted to pass legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Montana and Idaho have orders from judges temporarily blocking the bans. Arkansas ban was deemed unconstitutional and was struck down by a federal judge.
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