DES MOINES, Iowa — On the day that Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill that would ban gender-conforming care on children, Iowa Speaker Pat Grassley said it’s possible that legislators could discuss a ban here, too.

“I think that is a possibility. Yes,” Grassley, a New Harford Republican, told reporters Thursday. “I think that based on some of the information that we’ve had shared with us, I think that there could be the expectation of seeing some legislation potentially moving forward.”

A national analysis by Komodo Health cited by Reuters looked at 40 million insurance claims for children. It found that over the period of 2019-2021, families submitted insurance claims for 56 genital surgeries for teens under 18. There could be additional instances for children where families did not use insurance.

Tennessee’s legislation bans surgeries, hormone therapies and puberty blockers for minors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics supports gender conforming treatment.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, Windsor Heights, said, “we continue to see that they’re punching down on kids, that they’re trying to divide us, that they’re using culture war language. And this is not a problem that needs solving in the state. This is really about a national campaign to appeal to their far right base.”