A good bill, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act (HB1057), passed in the full House of Representatives Wednesday, January 29, with a vote of 46-23. Click here to read the bill.  Check the votes here. We wanted a YES vote.

HB1057 now moves to the state senate. The bill will be heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday, February 10. It’s critical that pressure be put on the senate to pass this important piece of legislation.

See our action items below.
HB1057 protects minors who struggle with gender identity from receiving certain dangerous and life-altering drugs and irreversible surgeries that remove healthy organs.  Children struggling with their identity should be protected from unethical sex reassignment interventions that reject their long-term health and well-being.  Here are a few things you should know:

• Sadly, there are some clinics in South Dakota that are performing these procedures.
• No long-term scientific research exists to support the safety or efficacy of sex reassignment treatments on children – in fact, there is evidence to the contrary.
• Studies prove the fluid nature of gender dysphoria: 80% no longer wish to change their sex after puberty. Some studies find the rate as high as 90%.
• Parents are being misinformed by an activist medical community.
• There is no scientific evidence substantiating the suicide claim for dysphoria.
• It is impossible for children and youth to understand, let alone give informed consent about the permanence of treatments and danger to their physical, mental, and emotional health.

Read CWA’s complete talking points with documentation here.

Action Needed!

1. Contact the members of the Senate State Affairs Committee and urge them to support HB 1057. You may contact members of that committee here.
2. Contact your state senator and urge him/her to support HB1057, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act.  Click here to view the list of state senators, and then click on his/her e-mail address. Click here if you do not know who your state senator is, or you can call your county auditor to obtain your senator’s name.
3. In addition to e-mailing, phone the Senate lobby at (605) 773-3821 and leave a message for your senator.
4. Share this information with at least two other concerned friends and family members. Your e-mails and phone calls are very important.

Please pray: Father, we thank you that in Your grand design You created us male and female. We ask that those who struggle with their God-given sex would be happy and healthy in the sex that You created them to be.  Thank you for the favorable consideration of HB1057 in the Senate.

God bless you for your prayer and action.
Linda Schauer
State Director