South Carolina House Passes Cruel Ban on Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Youth
Today South Carolina lawmakers in the House of Representatives voted in favor of H.4624, a bill that would ban medically necessary healthcare for transgender youth under the age of 18 in South Carolina.The bill also prevents public funds from being used to cover the cost of transition-related healthcare for youth and adults and encourages the “outing” of transgender youth by teachers and school staff. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Last week in subcommittee, on the first day of the South Carolina legislative session, nearly 50 people testified on the bill – 48 people from all across South Carolina spoke against the bill, and only 1 person, representing the far-right group Alliance Defending Freedom (which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center), testified in favor.
Rhys Chambers, a leader in the SC United for Justice & Equality coalition who also serves as the Senior Organizing Lead of the Human Rights Campaign, issued a statement on today’s actions:
“The House voted to advance the cruel H.4624 even after emotional testimony in opposition from nearly 50 South Carolinians, the condemnation of every major medical group in the country and many SC doctors, and thousands of emails sent from every corner of South Carolina. This ban will cause so much anguish, chaos, and confusion for trans youth, their family members, and their loved ones, all while the legality of these bans is being adjudicated in many other states. There is no reason to pass this bill, and it is imperative that the Senate now reject it.”
An estimated 3,700 transgender youth under 18 live in South Carolina, meaning that this bill is targeting less than 0.07% of the state’s population (not every trans youth is accessing this medical care).
A surge of anti-transgender legislation like this has passed all over the country in the past two years; until 2021, no state had laws that banned transgender youth from accessing this healthcare. A map of the current landscape is available here.
Every credible medical organization – representing over 1.3 million doctors in the United States – calls for age-appropriate gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary people. “Transition-related” or “gender-affirming” care looks different for every transgender and non-binary person. Parents, their kids, and doctors make decisions together, and no medical interventions with permanent consequences happen until a transgender person is old enough to give truly informed consent.
Advocates from the SC United for Justice & Equality coalition are available to speak with the media about the legislation and its damaging impact on transgender youth.