New Hampshire bans body mutilating sex-change surgeries for under-18s, boys from girls' sports

New Hampshire has become the latest state to ban body-mutilating sex-change surgeries from being performed on minors and prohibit boys from competing in girls-only sports and athletic competitions.

More than half of the states across the U.S. have passed laws banning experimental trans procedures from being performed on youth or have banned men and boys from competing in women’s sports, or both.  

On Monday, New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed House Bill 619 and House Bill 1205 into law. House Bill 619, passed by the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives in a 199-175 vote and the Republican-controlled Senate in a 13-10 vote, prohibits doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children and teens exhibiting gender dysphoria. It is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025. 

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For the most part, support for the legislation came down along party lines, with nearly all Republicans voting in favor of it and nearly all Democrats opposing it. No member of the New Hampshire Senate broke from their party, while 14 Democrats in the New Hampshire House supported the measure and three Republicans opposed it. Unlike similar laws passed in many other states, the legislation does not prohibit prescribing body-deforming puberty blockers or opposite-sex hormones to children and teens suffering from confusion about the sex. 

New Hampshire joins 25 other states that have banned the some or all trans-procedures from being performed on minors younger than 18. The other states include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. 

The push to prohibit surgeons from performing body-mutilating trans surgeries, such as castration and elective hysterectomies, comes amid concerns about the lifelong  physical, mental and emotional trauma that comes which such procedures being performed on otherwise healthy youth. As Sununu said in a statement announcing his approval of the bill, “There is a reason that countries across the world — from Sweden to Norway, France, and the United Kingdom — have taken steps to pause these procedures and policies.”

Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who once self-identified as male but saw her gender dysphoria subside as she got older, has emerged as one of the most prominent voices advocating against performing such body-deforming procedures on children and teens. 

A lawsuit filed last year details how Cole experienced suicidal thoughts after having an elective surgery to remove her breasts as a young girl in an attempt to look more like a boy. She said the rush to “affirm” her as a boy and perform irreversible cosmetic surgeries left “deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system.” 

The other bill approved by Sununu, House Bill 1205, prohibits trans-identified male student athletes in grades 5-12 from competing in girls’ sports. The measure was approved by the New Hampshire House of Representatives in a 189-182 vote, while the Senate passed it 13-10 earlier this year. It is slated to take effect 30 days after passage.

As with House Bill 619, support for the legislation fell along party lines in the Senate. However, one House Republican broke with her party to oppose it and one House Democrat broke with his party to support it. 

New Hampshire joins 25 additional states that have implemented laws and/or regulations requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their sex instead of the self-declared, chosen gender identity: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. 

Efforts to ensure that only females compete in women’s sports stem from concerns about how the biological differences between men and women give men and boys an unfair advantage when it comes to athletics.

Anecdotal evidence of trans-identified male athletes breaking women’s sports records when competing on women’s sports teams, most notably in the case of former collegiate swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas, has served as a call to action for state legislatures.

A study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that males’ advantages over females in athletics do not diminish even after two years of taking feminizing hormones. 

Sununu praised the bills he signed into law as “commonsense, bipartisan solutions that reflect the values of parents across our state.”

He added, “The vast majority of Granite Staters share in this approach — because it is fair, balanced, and void of political considerations. By enacting these measures, we continue to uphold the principles of safety, fairness, and common sense for all our citizens.”