PIERRE — A last ditch effort to soften a proposed ban on transgender therapies and surgeries for minors in South Dakota fell short this week in the state Legislature.

House Bill 1080, which heads to Gov. Kristi Noem’s desk following the Senate’s 30-4 vote to adopt Thursday afternoon, prohibits the use of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and gender-altering surgeries for people under the age of 18.

Heavily opposed by the medical community and the progressive left, the measure has been criticized as “anti-transgender” and discriminatory. And its ban on puberty blockers even brought consternation to the Republican-dominated Legislature.

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