North Dakota governor signs law limiting trans health care

North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a veto-proof bill into law that restricts transgender health care and criminalizes providers who give gender-affirming care to people under 18. The new law takes effect immediately. It allows prosecutors to charge health care providers with felonies for performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors, and with misdemeanors for giving gender-affirming medication — like puberty blockers — to trans kids. At least 13 states have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors. Republican lawmakers across the country have advanced hundreds of measures aimed at nearly every facet of trans existence this year.