§ 147.164 — Gender transition procedure-related activities — minors — prohibitions

Iowa § 147.164

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title IV: PUBLIC HEALTH
• Ch. 147: GENERAL PROVISIONS, HEALTH-RELATED PROFESSIONS

Text

1. As used in this section:
a. “Gender” means the psychological, behavioral, social, and cultural aspects of being
male or female.
b. “Health care professional” means a person who is licensed, certified, or otherwise
authorized or permitted by the law of this state to administer health care in the ordinary
course of business or in the practice of a profession.
c. “Minor” means an unemancipated person under eighteen years of age.
d. “Sex” means the biological indication of male and female, including sex chromosomes,
naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external
genitalia present at birth without regard to an individual’s psychological, chosen, or
subjective experience of gender.
2. a. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph “c”, a health care professional shall not
knowingly engage in or cause any of the following practices to be performed on a minor if
the practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm
the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is
inconsistent with the minor’s sex:
(1) Prescribing or administering gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues or other
synthetic drugs used to stop luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone secretion,
synthetic antiandrogen drugs used to block the androgen receptor, or any drug to suppress
or delay normal puberty.
(2) Prescribing or administering testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone to a minor in an
amount greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy individual of
that individual’s age and sex.
(3) Performing surgeries that sterilize, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy,
oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and penectomy.
(4) Performing surgeries that artificially construct tissue with the appearance of genitalia
thatdiffersfromtheindividual’ssex,includingmetoidioplasty,phalloplasty,andvaginoplasty.
(5) Removing any healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.
b. A health care professional shall not knowingly engage in conduct that aids or abets
the practices described in paragraph “a”. This paragraph shall not be construed to impose
liability on any speech protected by federal or state law.
c. Paragraphs “a” and “b” do not apply to any of the following:
(1) Services provided to a minor born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex
development, including a minor with external biological sex characteristics that are
irresolvably ambiguous, such as a minor born with forty-six XX chromosomes with
virilization, forty-six XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or having both ovarian and
testicular tissue.
(2) Services provided to a minor who has otherwise been diagnosed with a disorder of
sexual development by a physician, when the physician has determined through genetic or
biochemical testing that the minor does not have a normal sex chromosome structure, sex
steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a biological male or biological
female.
(3) The treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused
or exacerbated by the performance of gender transition procedures, whether or not the
procedures were performed in accordance with state and federal law.
(4) Any procedure undertaken because a minor suffers from a physical disorder, physical
injury, or physical illness that is certified by a physician and that would place the minor
in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily function unless surgery is
performed.
d. A violation of the prohibitions under paragraph “a” or “b” by a health care professional
is considered unprofessional conduct and subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate
licensing board or entity.
41 GENERAL PROVISIONS, HEALTH-RELATED PROFESSIONS, §147.164
3. a. A person may assert an actual or threatened violation of this section as a claim or
defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding and may obtain compensatory damages,
injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other appropriate relief.
b. An action brought for a violation of this section shall be brought within two years
after the cause of action accrues. However, a minor may bring an action during the minor’s
minority through a parent or legal guardian, and may bring an action in the minor’s own
name upon reaching majority and for twenty years after reaching majority.
c. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, an action under this section may be
commenced,andreliefmaybegranted,inajudicialproceedingwithoutregardtowhetherthe
person commencing the action has sought or exhausted available administrative remedies.
In an action or proceeding to enforce this section, a prevailing party may recover reasonable
attorney fees.
d. The attorney general may bring an action to enforce this section.
e. Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right
or authority of the attorney general, the state, or any agency, officer, or employee of the state
to institute or intervene in any proceeding.
f. Compliance with, or enforcement or implementation of, this section shall not constitute
a violation of any provision of chapter 216.