South Carolina has
become the latest U.S. state to crack down on mutilating transgender surgeries
and hormones for children and taxpayer funding for “gender transitions.”
Last week, South Carolina’s Republican-led legislature approved House Bill 4624, which prohibits medical professionals from giving puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to children under 18 years old or subjecting minors to “genital or non-genital gender reassignment surgery.” “A physician, mental health provider, or other health care professional shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to a person under eighteen years of age,” the bill states. Physicians who violate the bill would risk losing their licenses, and they would be “guilty of inflicting great bodily injury upon a child” if they commit transgender surgeries on children. A person subjected to a “gender transition” while still a child would have a three-year window to bring legal action against the medical practitioners responsible for his or her mutilation.
South Carolina was one of the last Republican-led states not to have passed restrictions on transgender mutilation of children. The bill cleared the state Senate 28-8 and the House 67-26, with the backing of only three Democrats. The bill requires minors who began using puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones before August 1 this year to be weaned off of the sterilizing drugs by no later January 31, 2025. It also outlaws the use of public funds “directly or indirectly” for “gender transition” practices and bans Medicaid from reimbursing or covering the procedures.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has a record of opposing LGBT ideology, plans to sign the measure, South Carolina Daily Gazette reported. He previously signaled his support for the bill and denounced “transitioning” children in January, saying, “we must prevent our young people from making irreversible errors.” House Bill 4624 would take effect immediately upon McMaster signing it. If the governor approves the bill, South Carolina would be the 25th state to ban or limit “gender transitions” for minors.
House Bill 4624 would also strengthen parents’ rights by requiring schools to immediately notify parents in writing if their child claims to identify as something other than his or her sex or asks to be addressed by transgender pronouns.
The bill additionally prohibits school employees from withholding information about children’s gender confusion from their parents or encouraging or coercing children to do so.
Last week, South Carolina passed another bill to protect children, the “Child Online Safety Act,” which requires age verification for pornographic websites. More than 15 states have enacted similar legislation.
A large body of evidence shows that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones cause serious, even lifethreatening, injuries, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, infertility, bone density loss, emotional problems, and permanent damage to reproductive organs.
Transgender surgeries include irreversible procedures to remove sexual organs and construct synthetic genitalia and other features intended to imitate those of the opposite sex. Research shows that people who undergo so-called “sex change” surgeries have an exponentially higher rate of suicide.
Several European countries have moved to restrict transgender mutilation of children due to the dangers posed by “gender transitions” and the lack of scientific basis for the practices, including the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. In March, England’s National Health Service banned prescription of puberty blockers to minors outside of clinical trials, and Scotland followed last month with a pause on both puberty blockers and hormones for children under 18.
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