An Oklahoma bill filed Wednesday is designed to block anyone younger than 26 from receiving gender-affirming healthcare, shifting the conservative battle against such treatment from children to young adults.
Filed before the state Legislature's opening in February, the bill would prohibit healthcare providers in Oklahoma from administering or recommending gender-affirming care, such as hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries, for patients under 26.
Providers who break the law would be punished by an unclassified felony conviction and could possibly have a medical license revoked for "unprofessional conduct."
The proposal would also block the use of public funds to "directly or indirectly" provide gender-affirming medical care to a person younger than age 26 and prohibit the state Medicaid program from covering gender transition procedures.
The bill's title, the "Millstone Act of 2023," references a Bible passage that states it would be better for a person to tie a large stone around their neck and "be drowned in the depths of the sea" than to harm a child.
Conservative pastor Jackson Lahmeyer first made the reference in April during an interview with Real America's Voice, when he pledged to introduce his own "Millstone Act" that would defund "any school district in America that teaches critical race theory or woke sexuality."
Lahmeyer tried unsuccessfully earlier this year to unseat Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.
Another Oklahoma measure filed in December seeks to prohibit doctors from performing "gender transition procedures" on patients younger than 21, which would be punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $100,000.
The Millstone Act of 2023 is being introduced by Oklahoma Republican state Sen. David Bullard, who wrote a new state law last year that bars transgender children from using the school restroom or locker room that is consistent with their gender identity. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing three transgender students in a lawsuit against the measure.
In filing the bill Wednesday, Oklahoma joins a growing number of other states targeting access to gender-affirming health care in 2023.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.