For Immediate Release: February 15, 2022
Contact: Ryan Hite, Communications Director
“Help Not Harm” Bill Stops Drugs, Surgeries for Minors
Washington, D.C.: “Governor Kristi Noem signed the ‘Help Not Harm’ bill into law this week, putting an end to any use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or cross-sex surgeries for minors in South Dakota,” said Phyllis Schlafly Eagles President Ed Martin. “This is great news for the people of South Dakota, and a great lesson in leadership for other states who want to protect their kids. While the debate about transgender issues rages on in controversy, the discussion should be absolutely universal when it comes to children: there is none!
“Children lack the judgement to make big, life-changing decisions, and we have consistently reserved those for adults or young adults of a certain age. Want to drive? 16. Want to vote? 18. Smoke? 18. Drink alcohol? 21. There is no end to the amount of evidence that our society has always recognized the cognitive and decision-making capabilities of a child are not yet ready for some big adult things.
“Why, then, would we entertain the radicals of society demanding that kids as young as toddlers are allowed to dictate to us they’re a different sex than they are, and we follow through with un-researched and (as it’s turning out) irreversible treatments? It makes no sense, and it we shouldn’t allow it to happen in America, or any nation for that matter.”
Martin concluded, “If recent European research on gender dysphoria or St. Louis native Jamie Reed’s testimony about her work at a children’s gender clinic has taught us anything, it’s that we need state governments standing up now to defend our children from predatory industries that would use their childishness to destroy the rest of their lives. More states need to follow South Dakota’s lead this year and place a complete ban on all sex change procedures or treatments for minors. Left or right, Republican or Democrat, this commonsense prohibition should be universally accepted by all Americans and demanded of our elected office holders.”
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