Mississippi governor Tate Reeves on Tuesday signed into law a bill banning gender-transition procedures for minors.
Reeves's final approval for the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act comes after the Republican-controlled state legislature approved the bill on February 21. The measure makes Mississippi the seventh state to ban sex-reassignment procedures for minors.
"There is a dangerous movement spreading across America today," Reeves said while signing the bill. "It's advancing under the guise of a false ideology and pseudoscience being pushed onto our children through radical activists, social media, and online influencers. And it's trying to convince our children that they are in the wrong body. I stand before you today to sign legislation that puts a stop to this in Mississippi and protects our kids."
The law bans medical professionals from performing gender-transition surgery and from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone replacements to minors in the state. The measure grants the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure the authority to strip medical professions of their licenses for violating the law.
