Today, the Kentucky legislature overrode Governor Beshear’s veto of the Do No Harm Act, enacting the bill into law. Kentucky is now the sixth state with a law protecting vulnerable children from both sex-change surgeries and experimental hormones aimed at “transition.” The law holds healthcare professionals accountable by providing child victims an opportunity to sue for damages.
Meridian Baldacci, Director of Strategy at Family Policy Alliance, responded:
“Today, the Kentucky legislature has sent a clear message: they take child safety seriously and will do what it takes to ensure kids are not in harm’s way.
“And the interventions that the legislature today protected children from do cause serious harm. They often leave young people sterile, with a variety of irreversible maladies and physical changes, and the deep pain of regret. All this can happen before a child is even old enough to buy cough syrup over the counter.“This law is standing in the gap.
“We are so grateful for the tireless work of our friends and allies at The Family Foundation who shepherded this bill throughout the process. Their courageous leadership, and the hard work of the representatives who sponsored and supported this bill, was instrumental in making today possible. And, we thank and honor the legislators who led and voted for this bill. We especially thank Representative Jennifer Decker, the House cosponsor of the bill and alumna of Family Policy Foundation’s Statesmen Academy, for her courage in the face of opposition.”
Family Policy Alliance (FPA) began work on protecting minors from transgender interventions in 2017, when the group first drafted an early version of what is now the Help Not Harm Act. In 2021, FPA launched its Help Not Harm campaign following the passage of Arkansas’s SAFE Act (the first successful bill in the nation to offer these protections).
To date, 6 states have Help Not Harm laws (Arkansas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Kentucky), 2 states have modified versions of the law (Arizona, Utah), 1 bill sits on a governor’s desk (Indiana), and 10 states are currently considering legislation (Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio, New Hampshire, South Carolina).
