North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R.) on Wednesday signed legislation outlawing sex change treatments for minors, making it a felony to perform a sex change surgery on a minor.
The new law threatens prison sentences and fines for doctors who perform the surgeries or administer sex change medications to minors, the Associated Press reported. North Dakota joins at least 13 other states that have similarly restricted such treatments for minors.
Health care providers who perform transgender surgery on a minor could face up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines under the law. The law assigns a lesser penalty, up to 360 days in prison and $3,000 in fines, for administering sex change medications to minors.
The bill's signing comes a week after Burgum signed two bills banning biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at the grade school and college levels.
On Thursday, the U.S. House passed a similar measure, that would amend Title IX to ban biological males from competing in women's sports in federally funded schools. Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), author of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, argued for his bill on the House floor Wednesday.
"Parents do not want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe it’s equitable a male can compete with women in female athletics," Steube said.
Missouri last week became the first state to restrict sex change treatments for adults when Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R.) enacted an emergency rule establishing preconditions for obtaining such treatments.
The rule says that because gender transition treatments are "experimental" with "significant side effects," patients seeking the treatments must first undergo extensive psychiatric assessments and be informed of risks.