In Iowa Senate race, Hinson ad distorts Turek’s stance on gender-affirming care for minors

Iowa Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson released an ad immediately after the June 2 primary that said her Democratic opponent, state Rep. Josh Turek, supports "sex changes" for minors.

The ad makes two similar but distinct claims. Its narration says Turek "supports kids changing gender without parental consent." But the on-screen text says "sex changes for kids," while video of surgeons in an operating room plays behind an image of Turek. Hinson’s social media post sharing the ad also used the phrase "sex changes for kids."

"Sex change" is not a standard medical term. Gender-affirming care can include a range of approaches to support a person's gender identity including, for minors, using a different name or pronouns. According to medical best practices, gender-affirming treatments are available only to adolescents and can include puberty blockers, hormone therapy and in rare cases, surgeries for older teens. Medical intervention for minors requires parental consent.

The ad distorts Turek’s position. The law cited in the ad as evidence does not mention medical interventions or "sex changes." It has to do with notifying parents when a student expresses a different gender identity at school.

Although the ad showed video of surgeons operating, Hinson campaign spokesperson Addie Lavis said the ad was not referencing gender-affirming surgeries. In an email to PolitiFact, she said the ad was using gender and sex "interchangeably as is the case under Iowa law and nowhere do we mention surgery."

Iowa law addressed school accommodations, not medical treatment

The ad cites Iowa's Senate File 496, a 2023 law that regulated school library books with explicit themes and prohibited instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. Turek voted against the bill. The Republican-led Legislature passed the bill and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law. 

The law requires school districts to inform parents if a student requests "an accommodation that is intended to affirm the student's gender identity," including requests that employees "address the student using a name or pronoun" that differs from the school’s records. 

Iowa is one of several states that has enacted laws requiring schools to notify parents if students express a different gender identity at school. Supporters of the new laws say parents have a right to make decisions for their children, while many LGBTQ+ advocacy groups say sharing that information with unsupportive parents could be harmful for the children.   

Hinson campaign spokesperson Lavis also pointed to Turek's vote against the state’s 2025 health and human services budget bill. One of that bill’s provisions blocked Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming hormones or surgeries. That law dealt with reimbursement, not whether minors can receive the procedures or whether parents must be notified. 

Iowa lawmakers had already prohibited medical gender-affirming procedures for minors in 2023. Turek was not present for the vote on that bill, and the Iowa House Journal shows he was granted a leave of absence that day.

Citing the American Medical Association — which said in February that gender-affirming surgeries should "generally be reserved until adulthood"  — Turek campaign spokesperson Hannah Goss said he does not support gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

Dustin Hornbeck, a University of Memphis professor who has written about parental rights in education policy, said it's inaccurate to say the Iowa parental notification rules relate to "sex changes."

"Characterizing a parental notification policy about names and pronouns as involving 'sex changes' conflates two legally and practically distinct categories," he said in an email. "These laws concern how schools communicate with parents about student identity, not medical procedures."

Medical treatment generally happens outside of school with health care providers and, for minors, involves parental consent, Kathryn Watson, an education researcher who wrote about the effects of the Iowa law on school practices, said.

"The only time these would ever overlap is if a student had to take a hormone pill at school," Watson said in an email. "This would require parental consent and be administered by the school nurse."

Our ruling

A Hinson ad said Turek supports "sex changes for kids." The ad's context includes medical treatments and surgery.

Although the ad included video of a surgery, a Hinson campaign spokesperson said the ad was not referencing gender-affirming surgeries.

The ad cites a law’s provision that requires schools to notify parents if a student wants to identify with a different gender. That law did not mention "sex changes" or medical treatment. Turek voted against that bill.

A separate bill the same year banned gender-affirming medical treatments for minors; Turek was absent from the vote. His campaign said he opposes such surgeries for minors.

We rate the claim False.