South Dakota Gov. Noem signed HB1080, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors

On February 13, 2023, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed House Bill 1080, the "Help Not Harm" Act, into law, barring health care professionals from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgical interventions to transgender minors for the purpose of gender transition. The statute required providers already treating transgender minors to taper them off medication by December 31, 2023, and exposed violators to license revocation and civil liability that patients could pursue through age 25 or up to three years after discovering an injury. [1][2]

The bill passed the South Dakota Legislature during its 98th Session before reaching the governor's desk, making South Dakota one of the earliest states in the 2023 wave to restrict gender-affirming care for minors. Rather than regulating medical practice on terms applicable to all patients, the law singles out care sought by transgender youth for prohibition and compels the withdrawal of ongoing treatment, disadvantaging transgender minors and their providers on the basis of a protected characteristic. [2][3]