The bill would prohibit doctors from prescribing or administering “puberty-blocking medication” or cross-sex hormones, in addition to barring any “surgery that sterilises the child” or otherwise removes a “healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.” SB 1311 also would ban liability insurance coverage for the procedures and strip physicians of their licenses for performing them.

“Our job is to protect children who can’t protect themselves,” the bill’s author, Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, told senators, according to local news. “It was wrong yesterday, it is wrong today, and it’ll be wrong tomorrow to not protect those who cannot protect themselves,” he said.

Senators on Wednesday sent the bill to the house, where members have until the 25th of May to approve senate measures.