Proposition 135: Prohibit Surgeries for Treatment in Response to Minors' Perception of Sex or Gender Measure

Proposition 135 would prohibit health-care professionals from knowingly performing specified surgeries on minors for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics and would restrict public funding for specified procedures.

Why Vote YES?

Children require special protection when decisions may have permanent and life-changing consequences.

Major irreversible medical interventions should be approached with extraordinary caution when the patient is a minor.

The state has an important responsibility to protect children from irreversible procedures that they may not fully understand and whose long-term consequences may affect them throughout adulthood.

The measure reflects the principle that protecting children should take precedence over political or ideological pressure.

Position: Protect minors from irreversible surgical interventions related to sex or gender. Vote YES.

Prohibits sex reassignment surgeries on minors and bans government funding. Troubled kids lack the maturity to make this irreversible choice and should be protected from irresponsible parents who would allow it. At least, they can wait till they’re 18.

Proposition 135 would ban surgeries that alter the biological sex characteristics for those under 18 years old. This proposition would also prohibit government funds or their health insurance from helping to pay for the surgeries. We recommend voting NO on this proposition. - Prop 135 would take healthcare decisions away from patients, parents, and doctors. - Prop 135 could delay or prevent serious care for conditions that affect any child. Doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies can avoid or exclude procedures that they think are legally risky. - Prop 135 ignores the medical association best practices that show that the surgeries can improve health and reduce suicide risk. Families, doctors, and mental health professionals should be the ones deciding what is best for their children.

We encourage voters to vote NO on Proposition 135. We believe health care decisions belong between individuals, their families, and their doctors, and that government should have no role in personal health care decision-making. Punishing doctors with the legal system for providing medically appropriate care and dictating personal decision making is not who we as Coloradans are.