SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A bill that would ban certain kinds of health care for transgender minors has passed the South Dakota House of Representatives.

House Bill 1080, introduced by Republican Rep. Bethany Soye of Minnehaha County, would prohibit the prescription of puberty blockers or suppressants, gender-affirming surgery and cross-sex hormones for children that Soye describes as seeking to “change [their] biological sex.”

“I just want to bring us back, bring us back to the main point of this bill,” Soye said. “It’s because we care about these children, we care about these children who are in pain, who have trauma, who are hurting, and we want to guide them down a path of true help so that they can grow up, and then when they’re 18, they can make any decision they want.”

The bill would only impact people who are younger than 18 years old. Lawmakers argued about who should be able to make decisions for them.

“Decisions about medical and mental health care for kids, that should be made by patients, that should be made by their parents, that should be made by their doctors, the three of them working together,” Democratic Rep. Erin Healy of Minnehaha County said. “That should not be made by 105 legislators.”

“Minors need our protection,” Republican Rep. Jon Hansen of Minnehaha County and Moody County said. “They’re prone to irrational decisions. Most of them don’t have the reasoning capacity to know what’s best for them in that situation, and that’s what we have here with some of our kids, and they need our help. They need our protection.”

“It’s our job to take care of these children, the children that can’t take care of themselves. That’s our job: the job of government to protect the weak and the defenseless,” said Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch of Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin and Roberts Counties. “So I ask you to please press your green button to support this bill.”

“These youth who are working with their counselors, working with their parents, working with their friends to find out who they are, how dare you sit and stand on this floor today and tell these children that they don’t know who they are, that you know better than them,” Democratic Rep. Kameron Nelson of Minnehaha County said.

Only three Republicans broke rank and joined all seven Democrats in opposing the bill. Among them was Republican Rep. Jess Olson of Pennington County.

“We also always have to ask ourselves, is this law necessary, is it right, and in this case I would say, we don’t need this law,” Olson said. “We’ve just heard: parents can say no.”

In the end, 60 lawmakers supported HB 1080 and 10 opposed it. The House Health and Human Services committee had passed the bill to the full House on Tuesday. HB 1080 now goes to the Senate for further consideration.

Capitol Bureau reporter Bob Mercer contributed to this story.