Child 'Anti-Mutilation' Bill Proposed In NJ

WEST DEPTFORD, NJ — A new bill proposed by a South Jersey lawmaker could make it illegal to perform gender reassignment surgery, and prescribe or give hormone therapy to New Jersey minors.

Senator Ed Durr (R-NJ-3) introduced the Child Protection and Anti-Mutilation Act (bill S-3076) last week, his office said. Violation of the act would be a third-degree crime. The bill would punish violators with imprisonment of 3-5 years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both, his office said.

"Children do not have the maturity to make life-changing medical decisions that cannot be reversed,” said Durr in a news release. "We cannot discount the fact that 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old children are extremely impressionable and can be influenced by adults who may push them to make choices they cannot fully comprehend. We can protect children from unnecessary and permanent harm by delaying these important decisions until they are adults."

Many medical groups support allowing varying types of medical treatment for transgender youths, citing evidence that it can improve their well-being, although rigorous long-term research on benefits and risks is lacking.

Transition treatment and other gender-affirming health care is under scrutiny in many states, with some labeling it a form of child abuse. Some critics argue that safety should be well established before subjecting youths to potentially irreversible treatments. Some hospitals, including Boston Children's Hospital, have been the targets of intimidation because they have health programs for transgender youth. Read more: MA Woman Arrested In Boston Children's Bomb Threat: Feds

Full text of Durr's proposed bill was not available on the NJ Legislature website as of Tuesday. Durr appears to be the bill's only sponsor. The first-term senator has sponsored more than 100 bills since taking office, state records show.

Durr's Child Protection and Anti-Mutilation Act bill prohibits anyone from engaging in, performing, or causing to be performed the following practices to unemancipated minors:

• Prescribing or administering medication to stop or delay puberty
• Prescribing or administering hormone therapy like testosterone and estrogen to children in excess of the normal amounts made in their bodies
• Performing surgeries such as vasectomies, hysterectomies, phalloplasties, and vaginoplasties that "result in sterilization" and "artificially construct tissue with the appearance of genitalia that differs from the individual’s sex"
• Removing "any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue, except in the case of a male circumcision."

The bill's restrictions do not apply to procedures treating children with a disorder of sex development, sometimes referred to as "intersex" children.

“It’s nothing short of child abuse to allow minors, including pre-pubescent kids, to undergo life-changing, medically unnecessary treatments and surgeries when they are unable to fully understand the inescapable consequences of these actions,” Durr continued. “It’s absolutely obscene that we’re letting kids agree to mutilating surgeries that can never be undone. No adult should ever look back wondering how they were allowed to make such monumental decisions as a child that they now regret.”

The bill comes amid heated public conversation on transgender issues and about the state's new health- and sex-education curriculum, which can be viewed here. Some Republican politicians and a portion of parents have deemed the curriculum not age-appropriate for children.

Criticisms of the new curriculum center around lessons on sexual health, sexual orientation and gender identity. Opposition to the standards has sparked contentious school board meetings throughout the state, while Republican leaders have recently ramped up attacks against the New Jersey Education Association — state's largest teacher's union, which has defended the health curriculum. Read more: GOP Attacks On NJ Teachers Ramp Up As New Sex Ed Classes Begin

Durr is in his first term as senator for New Jersey's 3rd District, which encompasses parts of Cumberland and Gloucester counties and all of Salem county. He unseated Steve Sweeney, who was the State Senate President at the time, after spending only $153 on his campaign.

Durr graduated from Gloucester City Junior-Senior High School and worked as a truck driver before winning the Senate seat.

Congressman Andy Kim, the Democrat representing nearby Burlington County and part of Ocean County in the Third Congressional District, had no comment on the proposed legislation, his office said.

The Williams Institute, based at the University of California - Los Angeles, estimates 300,000 youth aged 13-17 identify as transgender in the United States. Across the nation, almost 70 comprehensive gender clinics and an untold number of private practitioners work with these youth and others whose gender identity differs from their birth sex.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.