Indiana’s governor signed a bill Wednesday banning all gender-affirming care for minors, joining at least 12 other states that have enacted laws restricting or banning such care.

Republican Governor Eric Holcomb signed the legislation into law after the Republican majority in the legislature approved it. The law will go into effect on July 1, and trans youth who are currently on medication to transition will have until the end of the year to stop doing so.

Holcomb had told reporters Tuesday that the bill on his desk was vague and had not indicated he would sign or veto it.

Permanent sex reassignment surgery with lifelong consequences and medically prescribed preparation for such a transition must take place as an adult, not as a minor,” Holcomb said in a statement.

Opponents of the legislation said the types of care the bill would ban, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers, are essential and often lifesaving for transgender children. Medical providers say most of the procedures prohibited by the bill are reversible and safe for minors. Transgender medical treatments for children and teens have been available in the US for over a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana called Holcomb’s decision a devastating development for transgender youth and said it intended to fight the law.

Lawmakers in GOP states are focusing on medical care for trans children

In addition to targeting an already vulnerable group, this law blatantly ignores the rights of parents and families to make decisions about the health of their children, the group’s director, Jane Henegar, said in a statement. The ACLU is committed to overturning this unconstitutional law and is confident that the state will not be able to defend it in court.

But proponents of the legislation have argued that such care is not reversible or has side effects that only an adult, not a minor parent, can agree to.

Lawmakers also banned gender transition surgeries for minors in the state, though representatives from Indiana hospitals told lawmakers that doctors do not perform genital surgeries on minors or refer them to surgeries.

Editorial: Idaho and Texas are using trans children as political pawns. That’s a lousy way to win votes.

At least 12 other states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban healthcare.

Most recently, Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Klein

on Tuesday evening

signed

in the law

a bill criminalizing gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth

Tuesday night in law

.

___Arleigh Rodgers is a member of the Corps of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.

Report for America

is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow her on Twitter

https://twitter.com/arleighrodgers