Utah Bans Genital Mutilation Procedures for Minors – The American Spectator

On Jan 31, 2023

Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill this weekend that will ban genital mutilation surgeries for minors.

Senate Bill 6, among other things, bans “sex characteristic surgical procedures” and prohibits transgender hormone treatments for those not diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

“Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation,” Cox said in a press release.

“More and more experts, states and countries around the world,” he continued, “are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”

Notice how other headlines on this newly signed law refer to these procedures as “gender-affirming care.”

“Gender-affirming care” is used to refer to both sex-change surgeries and hormone treatment. It’s a euphemism employed by the Left to push an agenda, take regular Americans off their guard, and put conservatives on defense. It sounds much more pleasant than “genital mutilation.”

Because who would want to ban “affirming care?” Only crazy right-wingers!

Let’s stop using the Left’s politically advantageous euphemisms and call it what it is — genital mutilation.

One very vocal opponent of the legislation, the ACLU, called Utah’s legislation a “devastating and dangerous violation of the rights and privacy of transgender Utahns, their families, and their medical providers.”

“I want transgender youth in Utah to know this fight is not over,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice for the ACLU, “and we won’t stop defending your autonomy and freedom until each and every one of you can access the care you need.”

Eighteen additional states are considering similar measures, Fox News reported.

Along with the transgender bill, Cox also signed a bill that provided school-choice-style scholarships to Utah students to attend schools outside the public education system and increased teacher pay and benefits.

Cox said House Bill 215 “gives Utah parents additional options to meet the needs of their families.”

“School choice works best when we adequately fund public education and we remove unnecessary regulations that burden our public schools and make it difficult for them to succeed,” he said.

The Left has and will attempt to smear Cox and anyone else who supports denying “gender-affirming care” (which, as we discussed, is a euphemism for the less palatable “genital mutilation surgery” and hormones).

But we should give our full support to Utah’s courage and encourage others to do the same.