HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL 2021 Regular Session HOUSE BILL NO.575 BY REPRESENTATIVE FIRMENT Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana. HEALTH/CHILDREN: Restricts prescribing and dispensing of certain drugs to delay puberty and prohibits withholding of certain information from the minor's parent or legal guardian 1 AN ACT 2To enact Part VIII of Chapter 5-A of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, to 3 be comprised of R.S. 40:1091.1 through 1091.5, relative to minors; to provide 4 definitions; to prohibit the prescribing and dispensing of certain drugs to minors; to 5 prohibit certain practices to be performed upon a minor; to provide exceptions for 6 procedures which may occur to minors; to provide for sexual disorders associated 7 with sexual development; to provide for officials and personnel of public and private 8 schools; to provide for violations; and to provide for related matters. 9Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana: 10 Section 1. Part VIII of Chapter 5-A of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 111950, comprised of R.S. 40:1091.1 through 1091.5, is hereby enacted to read as follows: 12 PART VIII. VULNERABLE CHILD PROTECTION ACT 13 §1091.1. Short title; definitions 14 A. This Part shall be known and cited as the "Vulnerable Child Protection 15 Act". 16 B. For the purposes of this Part, the following terms have the meanings 17 ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: 18 (1) "Castration" means a surgical procedure to remove the testicles of an 19 individual. Page 1 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL HB NO. 575 1 (2) "Hysterectomy" means a surgical procedure to remove the uterus with 2 or without other organs or tissues of an individual. 3 (3) "Metoidioplasty" means the surgical creation of a penis using existing 4 genital tissue of an individual. 5 (4) "Minor" means a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years. 6 (5) "Orchiectomy" means the surgical removal of one or both testicles of an 7 individual. 8 (6) "Oophorectomy" means surgical removal of one or both ovaries of an 9 individual. 10 (7) "Parent" means each parent, custodian, or legal guardian who is 11 responsible for the control, safety, training, or education of a minor. 12 (8) "Penectomy" means the surgical amputation of the penis of an individual. 13 (9) "Person" means an individual, agent, employee, or official of any legal 14 entity, school district, or political subdivision, or agency of the state. 15 (10) "Phalioplasty" means a multi-staged procedure that may include several 16 procedures including the creation of a penis, lengthening the urethra, creating the 17 glans of a penis, creation of the scrotum, removal of the vagina, or placing erectile 18 and testicular implants of an individual. 19 (11) "Puberty blocker" means medicine which may prevent puberty from 20 occurring. "Puberty blocker" means to block the testosterone or estrogen hormone 21 that leads to puberty-related changes in the body. 22 (12) "Sex" means the biological state of being male or female based on a 23 individual's sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles. 24 (13) "Undervirilization" means an individual whose body shows evidence 25 of below normal prenatal androgen effects. 26 (14) "Vaginoplasty" means a surgical procedure to create or repair a vagina 27 of an individual. 28 (15) "Vasectomy" means a form of male sterilization. Page 2 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL HB NO. 575 1 (16) "Virilization" means a condition in which an individual develops 2 characteristics associated with male hormones. 3 §1091.2. Child protection against puberty blocker agents 4 A. No person shall engage in, counsel, make a referral for, or cause any 5 practice to be performed upon a minor if the practice performed is for the purpose 6 of altering the appearance of or affirm a minor's gender or sex and the perception is 7 inconsistent with the minor's sex unless the practice is authorized under the provision 8 of Subsection (B) of this Section. The practices not to be performed shall include the 9 following: 10 (1) Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying a puberty 11 blocker medication to stop or delay normal puberty. 12 (2) Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying 13 supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or other androgens to females. 14 (3) Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying 15 supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to males. 16 (4) Performing a surgery that sterilizes an individual by performing either 17 castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, or penectomy. 18 (5) Performing a surgery that artificially constructs tissue with the 19 appearance of genitalia that differs from the individual's sex to include 20 metoidioplasty, phalioplasty, or vaginoplasty. 21 (6) Removing any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue. 22 B. This Part shall not apply to a procedure to treat a minor who is born with 23 a medically verifiable disorder of sexual development to include the following: 24 (1) A minor who is born with external biological sex characteristics that are 25 ambiguous and the ambiguity is not resolvable. 26 (2) A minor who is born with either forty-six XX chromosomes with 27 virilization, forty-six XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or having both 28 ovarian and testicular tissue. Page 3 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL HB NO. 575 1 (3) A minor who has been diagnosed by a physician as having a disorder of 2 sexual development and the physician has determined through genetic or 3 biochemical testing that the person does not have either a normal sex chromosome 4 structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a male 5 or female. 6 §1091.3. Prohibited acts by school officials or personnel 7 A nurse, counselor, teacher, principal, or other administrative official at a 8 public or private school attended by a minor is prohibited from doing either of the 9 following acts: 10 (1) Encouraging or coercing a minor to withhold from his parent or legal 11 guardian any information that suggest the minor's perception of the minor's gender 12 or sex is inconsistent with the minor's sex. 13 (2) Withholding from a minor's parent or legal guardian information related 14 to a minor's gender or sex that is inconsistent with the minor's sex. 15 §1091.4. Standard of care 16 Nothing in this Part shall establish a new or separate standard of care as 17 defined in R.S. 40:1231.1(A)(22) for a healthcare provider who provides care to his 18 patient. 19 §1091.5. Violations 20 Any person who violates this Part may, upon criminal conviction, be 21 imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, and may be 22 fined not more than ten thousand dollars. DIGEST The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)] HB 575 Original 2021 Regular Session Firment Abstract: Prohibits the prescribing and dispensing of drugs to a minor which may alter his puberty. Proposed law creates the "Vulnerable Child Protection Act". Page 4 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL HB NO. 575 Proposed law provides definitions that shall be used throughout proposed law. Proposed law provides that no person shall engage in, counsel, refer, or cause any practice to be performed upon a minor if the practice is performed for the purpose of altering the appearance or affirm a minor's gender or sex because perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex. The practices not to be performed shall include the following: (1)Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying a puberty blocker medication to stop or delay normal puberty. (2) Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or other androgens to females. (3) Prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to males. (4) Performing a surgery that sterilizes an individual by performing either castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, or penectomy. (5) Performing a surgery that artificially constructs tissue with the appearance of genitalia that differs from the individual's sex to include metoidioplasty, phalioplasty, or vaginoplasty. (6) Removing any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue. Proposed law stipulates that the provisions of proposed law shall not apply to a procedure to treat a minor who is born with a medically verifiable disorder of sexual development which shall include the following instances: (1) A minor who is born with external biological sex characteristics that are ambiguous and the ambiguity is not resolvable. (2)A minor who is born with either forty-six XX chromosomes with virilization, forty- six XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or having both ovarian and testicular tissue. (3) A minor who has been diagnosed by a physician as having a disorder of sexual development which the physician has determined through genetic or biochemical testing that the person does not have either a normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a male or female. Proposed law prohibits a nurse, counselor, teacher, principal, or other administrative personnel at a public or private school from doing any of the following to a minor: (1) Encouraging or coercing a minor to withhold from his parent or legal guardian any information that suggest the minor's perception of the minor's gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor's sex. (2) Withholding from a minor's parent or legal guardian information related to a minor's gender or sex that is inconsistent with the minor's sex. Nothing in proposed law should alter the standard of care as provided for in present law for a healthcare provider who provides care to his patient. Page 5 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-637 ORIGINAL HB NO. 575 Proposed law provides that any person who violates proposed law may, upon criminal conviction, be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, and may be fined not more than $10,000. (Adds R.S. 40:1091.1-1091.5) Page 6 of 6 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions.