The Wisconsin Senate approved a bill Tuesday evening that would bar doctors from giving minors cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, setting up a battle between legislators and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has said he will veto the bill, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The bill was passed in the state Assembly on Oct. 12 alongside two others that prohibit biological men from competing in girls’ K-12 sports and women’s collegiate sports. The state senate has not weighed in on the two sports bills, but passed legislation barring people under the age of 18 from getting transgender hormone treatments and sterilizing surgeries, which Evers has publicly said he would veto if sent to his desk, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Doctor Sought Funds To ‘Address Healthcare Challenges’ For Trans Kids By Injecting Lab Rats With Hormones And Puberty Blockers)
“We’re going to veto every single one of them,” Evers said at a rally, according to the Associated Press. “I know you’re here because you’re pissed off and you want to stop it, and you will stop it, and I’ll help you stop it.”
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers speaks to union workers at an event hosted by the Teamsters on the steps of the state capital building on November 7, 2022, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The bill bars a physician from performing “or [making] a referral for” cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for the “purpose of changing the minor’s body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the minor’s biological sex,” according to the text. It also prohibits doctors from performing surgeries such as a “vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty” for the purpose of changing a minor’s sex since it can result in sterilization.
If a doctor fails to abide by the law, the state medical board has the power to revoke their license to practice and the bill further bars the board from being able to renew the license again in the future, according to the text. Republicans have previously said that they hoped Evers would reconsider his position, calling the bill the “right thing to do for Wisconsin families.”
Evers said in July that he had no intention of supporting legislation that messes with “trans kids,” calling the debate on the subject “an idiotic national issue” and “disgusting,” according to the Cap Times.
“I’m always behind trans kids, trans adults — they’re part of our world,” Evers said. “And anytime you want to mess with [them] you’re going to get a veto. Pretty simple.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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