(Radio Iowa) After a nearly two and a half hour debate, the Iowa House has given final approval to a bill that would ban Iowa doctors and therapists from providing gender transition care to minors. All Senate Republicans voted for the bill Tuesday night and on Wednesday, 58 of the 64 Republicans in the House backed it. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says there are grave doubts about having children undergo these life-altering procedures.

Holt says children are unable to give informed consent to these kind of procedures.

Representative Jeff Shipley of Fairfield, a Republican who voted for the bill, says the expectation should be health not harm.

Five Republicans and all House Democrats voted against the bill. Representative Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames, told his colleagues he’s the father of a son who completed his gender transition at the age of 21.

Representative Chad Ingels of Randalia was one of the Republicans who voted against the bill says choosing to focus on one extremely small group in the state with this and other bills is not what the majority of Iowans want.

Representative Brian Lohse (LOH-see) of Bondurant, another Republican opponent of the bill, says parents should be free to make these decisions for their kids.

A similar law passed in Arkansas in 2021 was immediately challenged in court and has never taken effect as the case has not been resolved.