An Idaho law enacted Wednesday ( H. 668 ) protects taxpayers from paying for “gender- transition” procedures in a variety of ways. The legislation “adds to existing law”, namely the , Vulnerable Child Protection (VCAP ) Act , passed in 2023, which prevented physicians from harming minors with gender- transition surgeries or hormones.
The Legislature , declared , in H. 668 that “public funds may not be used, granted, paid, or distributed to any object, business, or adult for the delivery or payment of any surgical procedure or health intervention” described in VCAP Act, “whether the surgical operation or medical intervention is administered to a small or an adult”.
For the state’s Medicaid system, the law specifically forbids gender-transfer procedures from being considered as tax-deductible medical expenses. Also, the law requires that” no state property, service, or building” be used for the treatments, and that no physician offer them “in the course and scope of employment by the state or a county or regional government”.
Violations of H. 668 are to be prosecuted as “misuse of public moneys”, a , felony offense , carrying a sentence of up to$ 10, 000 and/or 14 years in prison for the most serious offenses. Additionally, offender may be made restitution for the money they used, been barred from public company, and be held accountable for their actions.
The bill , passed , both chambers by overwhelming margins, clearing the House with 84 % of the vote ( 58- 11 ) on March 11 and the Senate with 76 % of the vote ( 26- 8 ) on March 22. Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed the bill into law on March 27.
In laying out the legislative framework for the bill, the Legislature stated that gender-transfer procedures “have significant risks and had known harmful effects, including irreversible physical alterations and, in some cases, infertility and longstanding physical dysfunction.” If a medical procedure or medical procedure is performed to alter an individual’s appearance in a way that is incompatible with the animal’s genetic sex, it is never essential to the small or adult on whom it is performed.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho , reacted , violently to the bill’s passage, complaining that the Idaho Legislature had “once suddenly decided to cave in to the cruel demands of much- right extremists at the expense of the safety, security, and health of Idaho’s transgender community”, and, according to local station KTVB, “adding that lawmakers could just choose to allow transgender people in Idaho to make their own medical decisions in peace”.
The ACLU has challenged similar laws restricting gender- transition procedures around the country, and one prominent ACLU was recently , cited , for the impermissible practice of judge- shopping in a legal challenge to Alabama’s VCAP.
” People should not be subjected to harmful—often irreversible—drugs and surgeries that block healthy development, alter hormonal balances, and remove healthy organs and body parts” , , responded , Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp. ” This radical agenda has devastated countless lives, which is why some countries—including Sweden, England, and Finland—have changed course”.
” Now and always, our loved ones deserve the loving embrace of family members who guide them toward this reality, along with access to safe and effective counseling”, Sharp continued. ” There are only two sexes—male and female—and public funds should n’t be used to deny this basic truth”.
The Washington Stand was the publication that was first.
