A bill introduced this week in the South Dakota's Republican-dominated Legislature would make it a felony for medical providers to perform transgender operations or administer hormone therapy to minors for the purpose of changing their gender.

Rep. Fred Deutsch, who introduced the bill with more than 40 co-sponsors, said of the surgeries and hormone therapies, "The changes are overwhelming and life-changing. Children need to wait until they're mature to do it."

Deutsch also said:

"[The bill] says leave our kids alone and let them mature and let the normal, beneficial effects of puberty act upon their systems. We know from the literature that approximately 85 percent of children that are confused about whether or not they are a boy or a girl that the confusion goes away naturally. But you don't mess with them with opposite sex hormones, puberty blockers or surgeries that mutilate."

The proposed law would not apply to children born with rare intersex conditions, such as ambiguous or conflicting genitalia.