MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) on Thursday passed the second reading of a bill banning gender reassignment surgery.

The first reading of the bill, initiated by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and the leaders of the five parliamentary factions, was passed in June.

According to the initiative, an article banning medical interventions and the use of medicines for gender reassignment purposes will be added to the law On Fundamentals of Protection of Health of Russian Citizens. However, the ban will not apply to medical interventions aimed at treating congenital anomalies and birth defects, as well as genetic and endocrine diseases associated with atypical genitalia in children. It will be possible to carry out such medical interventions only based on a decision by the medical commission of a medical facility subordinate to the Russian Health Ministry. Following these medical interventions, the medical commission will issue medical reports on the conformity of a patient’s gender characteristics with a specific gender. According to the bill, changes to the civil registry will only be made based on these reports. The bill also suggests amending the new version of the law on Russian Citizenship, adding a provision under which a Russian national’s passport will be considered invalid 90 days after such changes are made to the civil registry.

In addition, the document introduces an amendment to Russia’s Family Code allowing any person whose spouse changes their gender in the civil registry to legally file for divorce. Besides, the rules that the bill adds to the code say that individuals who have reassigned their gender won’t be able to adopt children or be foster parents.

State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said earlier that the bill was aimed at preserving traditional family values crucial for Russian citizens.