Georgia state senators advanced a bill that would ban some transgender procedures and surgeries for anyone younger than 18-years-old.
The Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed Senate Bill 140 by a 10-4 vote on Wednesday. It would ban sex reassignment surgeries, hormone replacement therapies, and any other surgical procedure done "for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics."
However, as written, the bill would allow doctors in the state to prescribe puberty blockers, something banned by other Republican-held state legislatures.
Sen. Carden Summers, a Republican sponsor of the bill, said that she and others want to wait to see more research on transgender procedures.
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"We’re simply saying we want a wait-and-see approach, a do-no-harm approach," Summers said.
Jen Slipakoff, a Georgia resident and parent of a transgender child, said that he doesn't like lawmakers getting involved in these kinds of medical decisions.
"The sponsors of this bill insist on being in the doctor’s office with me," Slipakoff said. "It is the height of hubris to think you know better than me and my daughter’s doctor about what she needs."
Slipakoff lost a bid for state House in 2018, running as a Democrat.
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If passed, Georgia would join a wave of other states that have also passed bans on transgender procedures for minors.
In Mississippi, the senate voted on Tuesday to approve a bill banning gender reassignment surgery and other transgender procedures for anyone younger than 18.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said he will sign the bill.
"Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong. That plain truth is somehow controversial in today’s world," Reeves said on Twitter. "I called for us to stop these sick experimental treatments, and I look forward to getting the bill."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
