Abortion regulations and LGBTQ-related legislation among state laws taking effect Saturday
Demonstrators hold signs as North Carolina Republican lawmakers hold a vote to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after 12 weeks
By Kaanita Iyer, CNN
(CNN) — As several state legislative sessions have concluded or are drawing to a close, some of the high-profile legislation enacted by state lawmakers is just taking effect.
Many states saw particularly polarizing sessions, with Democrats and Republican state lawmakers moving in opposite directions on abortion- and LGBTQ-related legislation.
Several GOP-led states moved to advance restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care, while also tackling controversial issues such as child labor, guns and immigration.
Here are some of the laws that took effect Saturday.
LGBTQ-related legislation
South Dakota
The prescription and administration of puberty-blocking hormones to transgender minors are now blocked in South Dakota, along with sex hormones and gender transition surgery.
Health care providers who violate the new law risk civil suits and losing their professional or occupational licenses.
Georgia
Medical professionals in Georgia are prohibited from providing patients under the age of 18 with hormone therapy or surgery related to gender transition, and a violation of the law may result in the health practitioner’s license being revoked.
Several families, backed by advocacy groups, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the ban.
Tennessee
A federal judge allowed Tennessee’s ban on gender transition surgical procedures to take effect Saturday, but has temporarily blocked the enforcement of its ban on other gender-affirming treatments such as hormone therapies and puberty blockers.
The new law specifies that minors who receive care cannot be held liable, but lawsuits could be brought against a minor’s parents “if the parent of the minor consented to the conduct that constituted the violation on behalf of the minor.”
Florida
Teachers, faculty and students in Florida are now restricted from using pronouns of their choice in public schools under a new law. The legislation requires K-12 public schools to define sex as “an immutable biological trait,” and says it is “false” to use a pronoun other than the sex on a person’s birth certification.
Another provision in the law affirms that sexual orientation and gender identity cannot be taught in schools through eighth grade, codifying a state Board of Education decision to block such topics in all K-12 schools in April.
Florida’s ban on transgender people from using a government building’s bathroom or changing room that matches their gender identity has also taken effect. The bathroom ban applies in places such as public schools, prisons and state universities.
Abortion restrictions
North Carolina
A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for North Carolina’s 12-week ban on most abortions to take effect Saturday. The law provides exceptions in the case of rape or incest through 20 weeks of pregnancy or in the event of a “life-limiting anomaly” through 24 weeks.
The law also prohibits health care providers who object to abortion “on moral, ethical, or religious grounds” from being required to participate in abortion procedures.
The judge, however, temporarily halted a provision of the bill, which required doctors to document the location of early pregnancies with ultrasound evidence before prescribing a medication abortion.
Wyoming
The nation’s first ban on medication abortion was set to take effect in Wyoming Saturday, but a district judge blocked the measure last week while legal challenges play out.
Other laws
Iowa
Teenagers in Iowa can now work longer hours with those 16 and older permitted to work the same hours as an adult – provisions that were part of a child labor bill passed in May. The state also no longer requires work permits for minors.
Florida
Two other highly criticized bills took effect in Florida.
One requires private employers with 25 or more employees to check their immigration status in a federal database or risk their employer licenses being suspended.
The other will allow Florida residents to carry a concealed weapon in public without a government-issued permit.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Sydney Kashiwagi, Maxime Tamsett, Pamela Kirkland, Jack Forrest, Jamiel Lynch, Steve Contorno, Dianne Gallagher, Elisabeth Buchwald, Carlos Suarez and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
