Transgender rights advocates said a bill advanced by an Iowa House subcommittee could lead to mental and physical harm for transgender children.
The bill (HSB 669) states that raising a child consistent with their biological sex could not be considered abuse or used to disqualify parents from foster care or adoption. That includes making mental health and health care decisions based on a child’s sex, using pronouns consistent with their sex and denying gender-transitioning procedures.
Amber Williams, who spoke in support of the bill for the conservative group Inspired Life, said the proposal provides clarity for parents.
“Parents are responsible for their children and should not fear government intervention for acting in good faith,” Williams said. “Protecting parental rights is how we protect children, and that is why this bill matters.”
Advocates like Keenan Crowe, a policy director with the LGBTQ rights organization One Iowa, said the bill could open the door to parents putting their kids through conversion therapy.
“Conversion therapy is, in fact, not a therapy at all. It is torture,” Crowe said. “The stories I have are too numerous to get through, but these are people who were institutionalized, humiliated and even put through electroshock therapies in order to change who they were.”
According to the American Psychological Association, decades of research has shown conversion therapy is largely ineffective and poses serious risks of harm.