A person could not be disqualified from adopting or fostering if they intend to raise a child consistent with their sex, under a bill (HF2557) advanced by the Iowa House.
That could mean denying gender transition procedures or seeking mental health services critics of the bill say could include conversion therapy.
Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, said the bill protects parental rights.
“What this bill does is prevent the state from inventing a new category of abuse — the crime of believing that boys are boys and girls are girls,” he said.
Democrats criticized the bill as protecting parents who put their kids through conversion therapy.
Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, D-Hiawatha, said the bill will leave gender-diverse youth vulnerable to harmful conversion-therapy practices.
“It is designed to shield abusers, and while trans girls and gender nonconforming youth will be the ones to suffer on this bill, so will the men of tomorrow, boys who are told they are not masculine enough,” Wichtendahl said.
The American Psychological Association said conversion therapy is not evidence-based and poses serious risks of harm.
Research has shown people who have gone through conversion therapy are at higher risk for depression and suicide.
The bill passed 65-31 and heads to the Senate next.