Published: May 24, 2023
By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE—Republican committee chairman Fred Mills joined Democrats on Wednesday to kill a bill that would have ended gender-affirming care for minors.
House Bill 648 failed to make it out of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee after a 5-4 vote to defer the bill.
Mills, R-New Iberia and the committee’s chairman, joined four Democrats in voting to defer the bill. Mills is a pharmacist and is in his last term of office.
In a final statement before issuing his vote, Mills said, “I guess I’ve always, in my heart of hearts, have believed that a decision should be made by a patient and a physician. I believe in the physicians of Louisiana.”
The bill, authored by Rep. Gabe Firment, R- Pollock, would have prohibited doctors from performing medical procedures or prescribing medication that alters the appearance of individuals for the purpose of gender dysphoria on individuals under the age of 18.
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LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 